


Legacy Of Roj Blake - Freedoms Flight - Book 1 - Part 1

by Lculley



Category: Blake's 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-11 12:04:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 39,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19927792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lculley/pseuds/Lculley
Summary: In operation Blake, the ruler's of the Earth colonies destroyed the band of freedom fighter's that fought for man's liberty and right for freedom.Under the presidency of Sleer and the military command of Jack Nixon, the Terran Federation have continued their hold of all colonised worlds.Now, a handful of desperate fighters, undermanned and under resourced, continue the fight hoping that one day to return to the day's of peace and democracy, the day's before the iron rule of the Federation





	Legacy Of Roj Blake - Freedoms Flight - Book 1 - Part 1

LEGACY

OF

ROJ BLAKE

FREEDOMS FLIGHT

PART 1 

BASED ON THE TELEVISION

SERIES BLAKE'S SEVEN

BY TERRY NATION.

I DEDICATE THIS TO THE MEMORY

OF TERRY NATION.

Copyright: Laurence Culley

Legacy Of Roj Blake

Chapter One

A New Dawn

In operation Blake, the ruler's of the Earth colonies destroyed the band of freedom fighter's that fought for man's liberty and right for freedom.

Under the presidency of Sleer and the military command of Jack Nixon, the Terran Federation have continued their hold of all colonised worlds.

Now, a handful of desperate fighters, undermanned and under resourced, continue the fight hoping that one day to return to the day's of peace and democracy, the day's before the iron rule of the Federation.

With the battle is set to continue the re-emergence of the name Blake is set to return hope to the rebellion….

On the edge of the ninth sector zone seven, the first day of the ninth month, year seventy six in the third century of the second calendar, a fleet of star cruisers comprising of six pursuit ship's, four interceptor's and the new Phoenix class mark one command cruiser entered the orbit of the forest and farming world of Gauda Prime. 

Onboard the brand new command cruiser, in his large but undecorated cabin Jack Nixon was resting on top of his bunk whilst listening to the military music of the Federation Symphony Orchestra, during a loud cue which built up to a powerful crescendo the chime of his private intercom line sounded. Even over the loud piece of music, Nixon still heard the faint beep, he immediately stood up and straightened his light grey uniform, he turned the music down before speaking into the intercom.

"Yes?" He simply asked,

"We are now in stationary orbit over Gauda Prime sir,"

"Inform Base Commander Lucifer that I wish to see him the moment that I touchdown," Nixon ordered,

"Certainly sir, will there be anything else sir?"

Nixon thought for a moment before smiling.

"Yes, also inform Captain Cory Williams that I wish her to join me at teleport control,"

"Understood sir."

Nixon walked over to a full-length mirror and checked his uniform. Jack Nixon was a tall man who was ruggedly built, his chin was chiselled, eyes were deep set and narrow with a nose that hooked down towards his thin lips, he ran his hand over his light brown hair, once happy with his appearance the Supreme Commander of the Terran Federation walked out of his cabin. Whilst he walked towards teleport control all officers stood sharply to salute him, Nixon had installed a sense of pride with the personnel of his command fleet, every officer was hand picked by Nixon personally, all had the highest respect for him as he had with them. Nixon was met by Cory Williams as he approached teleport control.

"You asked for me sir," she said in a firm military manner.

Nixon smiled as he looked at Cory right in the eye, Cory was a beautiful woman in her early thirties, five feet seven inches tall with tied back black hair that showed the leanness of her face, her blue eyes gleamed and her soft red lips smiled crookedly,

"I would like you to join me on Gauda Prime," Nixon said as they entered the teleport control room. 

The room was hexagonal with a door on every other wall. In the centre of this room was a circular raised platform with a waist high hand rail in four parts circling it, on one side of the platform was the control board where two engineers in white overalls were waiting,

"That should be fun, I haven't been to G,P since I was a child," Cory said calmly,

"You aren't going down there to visit any of your old haunts we are here on official Federation business," Nixon said firmly,

"Naturally sir, besides I don't have too many happy memories here," she answered.

Nixon and Cory stepped onto the platform as an ensign rushed in.

"Sir," he said standing to attention.

"We have a message from Base Commander Lucifer, he reports that he will meet with you when you arrive, he also notes his surprise that you are here checking up on things personally,"

"I didn't want him to know until the last minute anyway." Nixon told Cory,

He turned to the ensign, who was still standing at attention,

"Okay ensign report back to your duties," he ordered,

"Yes sir," the ensign replied before turning quickly and leaving the room,

"Was I like that?" Cory asked, smiling in amusement at the ensign's decorum,

"No," Nixon replied, "You were cocky, you still are," he added,

"No sir, I was the best," Cory Williams replied coolly,

Nixon smirked, he liked Cory, she was indeed the best, he knew of only two other officers who met the grade that Cory set, one of them had defected from the Federation and became a smuggler whilst the other was now on Gauda Prime with a security report and a report on the competency of Base Commander Cral Lucifer. Nixon turned to the teleport engineers,

"Are you ready?"

"We're waiting for control on Gauda Prime to boost their signal," one operating engineer replied nervously,

"Inform them that I do not have all day," Nixon ordered firmly, the operator was quick to relay the message, after a short wait the engineer said,

"We have their signal sir, stand by," the engineers altered a dial, flicked a few switches and then informed the Supreme Commander of the situation,

"All systems are ready, safe trip sir," one lever was pulled and with a crackle of static and a humming of electricity the solid forms of Jack Nixon and Cory Williams slowly began to breakdown until their images disappeared totally.

Within an identical teleport control room as that of Nixon's command cruiser an officer in his late forties with a pale complexion and grey hair waited, he smoothed out the chest plate of his black uniform he was nervous, it was no secret that Cral Lucifer wasn't one of Nixon's favourite officers, the fact was also true that Lucifer disliked Nixon, it was Nixon who beat Lucifer to the Supreme Commander's position, it was one thing that Nixon would remind him of sometimes, particularly when things weren't going too well. Base Commander Lucifer felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he saw the first sign of Nixon and another officer, Nixon and Cory solidified on the platform of teleport control Gauda Prime.

"Greetings Lucifer," Nixon said threateningly.

Within the solitary confinement section of Gauda Primes detention block, in a cold silver/grey prison cell that was no more than two metres square, a man in his late twenties was sat on the floor, his back resting on the side of the hard metal bunk. Kerr Logan was dressed in tattered blue and grey flight suit, his face was bruised, his lip was cut and his black hair was greasy and matted and his eyes were closed. One black uniformed guard opened his cell and entered as another stood behind, both were wearing masked helmets,

"Get up," the guard ordered,

Kerr Logan did not respond,

"Now," the angered guard shouted as he kicked his prisoner.

Again Kerr Logan did not respond, this time the guard was furious he reached down and grabbed Logan by the collar of his flight suit and lifted him to his feet, Logan's blood shot hazel eyes finally opened. Though Kerr Logan's body was close to giving up on the former Federation pilot his eyes showed nothing but defiance, he had been in Federation custody for just over a week undergoing interrogation on a daily basis but he remained unbroken, not once did he give them the information they wanted,

"I am up," Logan said dryly.

Without another word the guard threw him out of the cell like some useless piece of rubbish he was disposing of, before Logan could recover himself the second guard grabbed a hold of him and threw him down the corridor, every step Logan took he was pushed by one guard and then the next, laughing as they did so. Turning left towards the interrogation rooms they passed another officer, one not wearing a masked helmet., he had glowing blonde hair and slate grey eyes. The officer saw the two guards and their prisoner who he recognised, but as Logan was pushed down the corridor he did not notice the officer, if he had done, Logan would have recognised him as Danial Carson, one of the Federations top covert operations agents. Danial Carson stopped and smiled as he watched the prisoner being pushed into a room,

"Kerr Logan?" He said to himself,

"I know someone who would like to know about this." 

Cral Lucifer stood in front of his desk in his own office as Supreme Commander Nixon sat in his chair, reading his report's. Captain Cory Williams stood by the door with her arms crossed,

Lucifer turned to her to see her glaring coldly at him, he quickly turned away. Nixon could sense Lucifer's unease and looking up at him he could see his nervousness, it hung over him like a heavy dark shroud,

“This base is a mess, you have lighting panels that do not work, wall panels hanging off walls or not existent at all exposing the bases electrical, water and heating systems,, haven’t you heard of maintenance?” Nixon snarled as he scanned the junior officers command office, a room that displayed in microcosm the level of disrepair throughout the base,

“Given the planetary budget is being diverted to the new city redevelopment being built out there, I am told that the personnel of this base will relocate once the new barracks are built, until thenn we are stuck in here with no money for maintenance, no wonder this base is looking as bad as it is,” Lucifer countered as he gestured around the tatty office that he had tried to improve without much success,,

“Why the hell would the Administration have a new city expansion built in this back water? It is not as if the Federation have money to burn,” He added with distain.

“This is the very planet the rebellion fell, this is the very base Roj Blake was killed in, it is seen as an example of our power and ruthlessness that we symbolise that victory,” Nixon said proudly, knowing it was his planning that ended Sleer’s search for Avon and the Scorpio. 

"Speaking of rebellion, I see you have reported that you have solved the rebel problem here?" Nixon asked,

Lucifer rubbed his hands together in an attempt to wipe the sweat that was forming on his palms,

"Yes sir,"

"Pray tell, what is your secret? I would have thought a full scale war would have been the only way to quell the rebellion here," the Supreme Commander queried, Base Commander Lucifer's throat tightened,

"You just need to appeal to the peoples better side sir, a nudge in the right place usually works," he replied,

"It would have to have been quite a hefty nudge I would have thought," Cory snapped,

"Not if you get them in their most sensitive part Cory," Lucifer retorted,

"And what sensitive part did you hit them in?" Nixon asked,

"By killing their leader and a large part of their leadership team,"

Cory Williams suddenly stepped forward, Nixon sat up straight in his chair and both wore a curious and amazed look,

"Are you trying to tell me that you have killed John Blake?" Nixon asked,

"Exactly that," Lucifer said proudly,

"With that and the threat of completely destroying the city it soon brought them into line," he added as he smiled to Cory victoriously.

Nixon sat forward, he showed no emotion, no happiness or joy. Lucifer suddenly felt belittled and he jumped as Nixon spoke,

"I want to check on the progress of our new Hunter class prototype,"

"That can be arranged sir," Lucifer offered,

"I am not asking for your permission Lucifer we will go now," Nixon snapped. 

Inside a huge hanger north of the command centre, a starship stood bathed in a white/green glow from the hanger lights. It was of a brand new design, the main hull of the ship was long and pointed to the front and tapered to the rear, attached to the hull were three pylons which were leaning forward at forty five degrees, on the end of the three pylons were smaller constructions built similarly to the main hull but with long weapon sensors protruding from their forward points, the ship had an alien appearance, it's rough edges and patchwork armour looked hardened in the light, it's huge bulk cast it's shadow over the hanger floor. Working all over the ships hull and interior were white clad engineers who laboured hard on the new Federation warship, the Hunter class which was Nixon's design. A team of one hundred engineers worked solidly on the vessel, one of these people was a tall slender woman with curled black shoulder length hair, she looked up into a service hatch on the underside of one of the three smaller hulls right next to one of the rear landing gears.

"I'm not sure how long we can keep this up," she said quietly into the hatch,

"It won't be for long now Karla, we just need to hold on and delay the construction of this ship, hopefully we can stop the project going ahead and the Federation will close it down," said a voice from inside the ship,

Karla Ford tilted her head to one side and frowned,

"That is not what we are here for,"

"Until the rebellion here is organised all we can do is hold the Federation up, we took one hell of a hit last month," the man inside answered,

"You're the one who should be organising the rebels, they listen to you," Karla whispered softly as she looked around the hanger, an engineering chief was walking up to her looking a little angry.

"Could you get to work Mira we are already behind schedule,"

"Yes sir," Karla replied, she almost forgot that she was using an alias.

The chief engineer named Danay was obviously flustered. The taller and rather gaunt man walked away as two other engineers dropped a large carton of electrical circuit boards which scattered as they hit the floor,

"Could you watch what you are doing you idiots," Chief Danay yelled as he stomped in their direction,

"What's happening?" Karla’s associate called from inside the ship.

The two men who had dropped the carton were associates of Karla's, who had infiltrated the Federation command centre with her, one was a tall, thin built bald man by the name of Nova and the other was Daly, a somewhat shorter man with bright ginger hair and light beard,

"It is just Nova and Daly dropping some container of parts," Karla replied as she watched in amusement as the chief engineer tried to hurry their deliberately slow attempt to pick up the parts,

"Trust them to give us a good diversion," the voice from inside the ship said,

"Too right," Karla agreed,

"It looks like the boss is having a very bad day," she added with a smile as she turned back to the entry hatch,

"So what, the rebellion will have a bad day if this ship ever gets built," the voice stated,

"Yeah well, let’s just hope ---,"

Karla suddenly felt very cold, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end, she couldn't believe who had just walked in,

"What is it?" The voice asked,

Karla didn't look up, her eyes remain focused on who had entered,

"Stay there and stay quiet, Supreme Commander Nixon has just walked in."

Nixon stopped at the entrance to the large hanger and admired the new starship that stood before him, he knew that the inner workings of the ship were not yet operational but the exterior looked impressive, even better than he had expected. Cory stood to his left and Lucifer was to his right, both were as impressed with the ship as Nixon was, the Supreme Commander turned away from his starship and gave Lucifer a hard stare,

"Get me the man in charge,"

"Yes sir," Lucifer said before heading towards the ship,

"Our very own Liberator," Nixon said,

"Just imagine Cory, a fleet of warships like that at your command," Nixon sighed whilst rubbing his hands together,

"You could strike fear into the enemy, nothing that the rebellion has would come anywhere close to it," Cory said softly,

"The sheer speed, manoeuvrability, fire power, nothing, not even our own pursuit ships would come close to it," she added with a warm sense of pride.

Lucifer returned and introduced the chief engineer to Nixon,

"Sir this is Del Danay, project head of Project Hunter,"

Nixon looked passed Lucifer towards the Hunter class prototype as though he hadn't heard him,

"Sir?" Lucifer asked.

"Del Danay, how long have you been involved in starship engineering?" Nixon asked whilst still admiring his ship,

"I've worked on construction for thirty two years," Del replied nervously.

It was obvious that Del had heard of Nixon's reputation, Nixon liked that, it meant that he did not need to repeat himself,

"In that time how long have you been running operations?"

Another question, Cory, Lucifer and Del were not quite sure where Nixon was going with this,

"Nine years sir," answered Del in a more worried tone,

"How many times have you confronted such a delay in production?"

Nixon's voice was calm, in fact so calm that it unnerved the people around him, even Cory who had thought she understood Nixon better than anyone, 

"Not that often sir, I do not understand why the ship is not up and running yet," Del rambled without thinking,

"You do not understand. Why?" Nixon asked, he looked straight into Del's eyes, Nixon could see the fear in him, Del had a right to be fearful, Nixon hated incompetence more than he hated failure and not many people got a second chance. There was a silence as the two men stared at each other, one waiting for an answer and the other one looking for one, Cory found the atmosphere very tense but she still smiled, even she, Nixon's executive officer of the Federation Elite Force didn't dare to move, Nixon was serious,

"Well?" He asked,

"Uh," Del stumbled,

Nixon walked passed him looking up at the ship before turning to him,

"Assemble your team Del, I will find a new way to motivate them,"

Fearful of Nixon, Del ran to the ship yelling,

"Stop what you are doing, everyone stop,"

Cory and Lucifer joined Nixon who was watching the rather pathetic fall in of the engineers. They formed three ragged lines, if they had been military officers Nixon would have shot the lot of them,

"What are you planning?" Cory asked,

"An object lesson Cory," Nixon answered, "One way I know will get quick results," he added,

Cory didn't like the sound of that, all the engineers looked frightened as Nixon approached, he walked from one end of the rather ragged line up to the other, stopping right in front of Karla Ford, his eyes narrowed as he looked at her, she looked familiar. Karla avoided the temptation to stare back at him, she hated him, she wanted to kill him, Karla knew of his reputation and standing this close to him she could feel his powerful aura that was intimidating, she wanted to kill him there and then but she knew that if she tried he would easily dispose of her, Karla's heart raced, she wished he would look away, sweat began to form on the insides of her hands as Nixon finally turned away. Karla had to suppress the urge to sigh but she jumped as Nixon spoke,

"I have called you here because of your slow progress on Project Hunter,"

Nixon reached the end of the lines and turned, his eyes fell straight onto Karla,

"As from today you will make it a mission in life to complete it. You will spend all your time on it and you will finish it by the time I choose to leave, failure to do so will result in this for all of you,"

Nixon drew a small hand sized pistol and turned it on Del Danay, a shot rang out, Del looked surprised as he held onto his bleeding stomach, he dropped to his knees and then slumped forward, dead. Karla could hardly believe it as she watched the man die, hate and anger grew inside of her, she really wanted Nixon dead now. Karla could hear the response of the others around her, they could not believe someone could be so ruthless, 

"Today's lesson is over. Get back to work now," Nixon ordered firmly but no one moved, they were still in shock,

"Do you wish to join him?" Nixon shouted that got the engineers moving, in fact they ran. Nixon turned to Cory as he holstered his gun,

"Clear don't you think?"

"Very clear sir," Cory replied,

Nixon turned to Lucifer,

"Get someone to clear that up," he ordered, pointing to the body of Del Danay,

"Yes sir," Lucifer turned to find the nearest guard as Nixon and Cory headed out of the hanger,

"I want information on that girl," he ordered,

"The black haired one?" She queried,

"Yes Cory, I've seen her before somewhere. If there is one thing Cory, I never forget a face."

Not far from the Federation construction hanger on the north side of the Federation command complex was the place where all of Gauda Primes captured criminal element were kept, the prison detention centres main transit cell, where all prisoners that were to be shipped to Earth for trial were kept. The cell was designed and built like any other prison transit cell by construction engineers who had no imagination, it was a large room surrounded by security bars with only two ways in or out, one entrance opened into the prison reception, the second on the opposite side of the cell lead straight to the prison ship launch silo, there were two levelled bunks lined up by the security bars and an assortment of chairs and tables in the centre, there were twenty three prisoners inside, three more than the cell was made for. Amongst what could be described as G,Ps low life was a tall well built ebony skinned man in his early thirties, his hair curled in short locks and a stubble had begun to grow around his cheeks and chin and his eyes were a glowing blue. Carl Simpson had been an alpha graded civil engineer before his arrest, he still wore the engineering overalls that he was wearing at the time of his arrest. He was sat on his bunk where he had remained since arriving, there wasn't much to do except sit and wait for the time to depart for Earth. He looked across the room at a woman who had arrived only the day before, she was sat on a chair, leaning her elbows on a table with her face buried in her hands, she wore a heavy red leather jacket and matching trousers which was quite a contrast to her long blonde hair, by her feet there was a big red bag which she had brought in with her. Carl Simpson watched as two other prisoners approached her, both looked rather nasty.

"You, get out of my chair," one of them ordered, the woman did not respond, she obviously didn't know that they were speaking to her, the other prisoner grabbed her shoulder and before she could respond he threw her off the chair towards Carl, she hit another chair before landing heavily on the floor holding her arm, as she tried to get up the first prisoner grabbed her bag and threw it at her hitting her right in her face, she slumped to the floor holding her bag, crying,

"Ah, did we hurt you?" The prisoner taunted as he turned to his friend and laughed before sitting down to play a game of cards. 

Carl Simpson stood up and walked to the woman, he crouched beside her,

"Do you need a hand?"

She looked at him fearfully, clutching onto what now were her only belongings, 

"I'm not going to harm you," Carl said softly,

"What's in it for you?" She asked nervously,

"Nothing," Carl replied,

"Oh, by the way I'm Carl Simpson,"

"Roxanne Davis," she answered as Simpson helped her to her feet,

Roxanne wiped the tears from her green eyes and managed a half hearted smile,

"My friends call me Roxy," she stated.

To Simpson's six feet four inch frame Roxy was tiny as she was just over five feet tall, they walked over to Simpson's bunk and sat down, Roxy placed her bag close beside her,

"So what are you in here for?" Roxy asked,

Carl Simpson smiled,

"I got caught cheating the Federation bank out of thousands of credits in taxes,"

"How did you manage that?" Roxy asked, her weary smile was now beginning to show some warmth, Carl Simpson found her to be a very attractive woman,

"I ran my own civil engineering company, we built things like tower blocks, city walls and boundaries, business was good but not great so I charged customers one amount but altered the tax receipts to show that I had charged the them less, so that I would have to pay less tax and pocket the profit, unfortunately I got caught," Carl explained,

"How?"

Simpson sighed,

"One of my customers ended up being the Federation, or at least a Federation front, they found out what I was doing and reported me, the rest as they say is history."

Roxy smiled whilst slowly shaking her head,

"So what are you in here for?" Simpson asked,

Roxy looked at him sadly,

"I don't know, they haven't told me yet,"

"You must have some idea," Carl queried.

The woman shook her head,

"I've no idea," she snapped bitterly before bursting into tears,

Simpson tried to comfort Roxy but she immediately shrugged him off.

Danial Carson lent forward towards the monitor on Base Commander Lucifer's desk,

"That's exactly what I mean," he said calmly,

"Here?" Came an inquisitive reply,

"How many ways can I tell you? Yes," Danial sighed,

"That explains why the supplies didn't get to us. How did it happen?"

"A trainee pilot got lucky whilst on a training exercise,"

"Does Nixon know?"

"He will do, I'll have to tell him,"

"Why?"

"If I don't and he finds out I'm history, you know what Nixon is like when he is the last to know, he will go for the first person he sees that is responsible and that person will be me," Danial said firmly,

"The last thing you need is me not being around helping you, remember that you are here because of me," he added,

"Okay Danial it looks like I have no choice in the matter,"

"None what so ever,"

"Thank you Danial, it looks as though my plan is going to have to change,"

"I would say so, Danial out," The Captain signed off and sat back, he noticed that Lucifer was standing by the door,

"How long have you been there for?"

"Not long," Lucifer replied,

Danial knew he was lying, he could see it in Cral Lucifer's eyes,

"Nixon wants you to dig out the file on the Hunter class project, he wants to read them,"

Cral Lucifer sighed,

"Why didn't he ask you to get the files?"

"You have access to them, I don't" Danial replied,

Lucifer turned and without saying another word and walked out,

Danial sat back and turned the chair so he could look out of the window,

"Get in my way at your peril Lucifer," he said to himself.

Nixon and Cory returned to Lucifer's office, all was as it had been accept for the fact that Lucifer's chair was now turned to the window, before Nixon or Cory could speak someone else in the room spoke,

"I have news you would like to hear,"

Danial Carson turned the chair around as Nixon approached the desk,

"You can tell me once you are out of that chair,"

"But I think you will want to leave this office immediately,"

"And why would I want to do that?" Nixon asked in a firm tone,

If there was one thing Cory had noticed about Danial Carson it was the fact that he didn't fear Nixon,

"What it so important?" Cory asked,

"Kerr Logan is here," Danial said as he looked Nixon right in the eye.

"Logan," Cory asked,

"Here?" Nixon questioned,

"Yes, he is in interrogation," Danial answered,

"It is important news we shall go now," Nixon said enthusiastically, 

"After you Danial," he ordered,

Danial rose from the chair and walked around the other two officers and headed towards the door, Nixon and Cory looked at each other, neither of them could quite believe it,

"I've been looking forward to this moment," Nixon said to Cory,

"Same here sir, Logan owes me big,"

"Personal feelings aside Cory, we are professionals."

As the Federation officers left the office Nixon turned to Cory,

"As Danial and I visit Logan, I want you to get that information I need,"

"Of that girl sir?" Cory asked feeling a little dejected, she wanted to see Logan suffer,

"Exactly," Nixon answered.

Karla strode into the flight deck of the Hunter class starship, she saw a tall, man who had light brown hair standing over what appeared to be a glass box of flashing lights,

"Look Orac, all I need is to get this ship operational, lives depend on it," he was saying to the computer,

Karla scanned around the interior of the flight deck to check to see if anybody else was present, once happy they were alone she spoke,

"I think Nixon recognised me,"

The man turned to her and nodded,

"I got that feeling," he said,

Karla stepped in front of the man and looked down to the computer,

"Why do you want this ship operational, what happened to preventing the construction of this ship going ahead?" She asked.

The man suddenly glared at her,

"It is now costing lives,"

"It will cost lives if this thing gets built, once the Federation--,"

John Blake interrupted,

"We will complete the ship but we won't let them have it,"

"But how we don't have a pilot?" Karla asked, trying to guess at what Blake had planned,

"My informant here has told me that a smuggling vessel was shot down not long ago, the pilot survived and is here in the base," Blake explained softly,

"I want your full co-operation Karla, call the others and inform them that the operation has been brought forward," Blake added firmly,

"Until when?" Karla Ford asked,

"Orac, if we put right everything that we have sabotaged, when would the ship be flight worthy?" Blake asked,

"THE HUNTER CLASS PROTOTYPE WILL BE FLIGHT WORTHY ONCE ALL SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN RECTIFIED WITHIN ONE HOUR AND FIFTY THREE MINUTES, MAY I REMIND YOU THAT DUE TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SLOW WORKMANSHIP---,"

"Thank you Orac," Blake said as he removed the key, he glanced to Karla who was obviously amused by the computer,

"We strike in two hours,"

"That's cutting it fine isn't it, what if we haven't finished in time?" Karla asked,

"We will have to work harder than we have ever worked before," Blake said in a hard tone,

"I'll arrange it," Karla replied.

As Karla headed out of the flight deck Blake called after her,

"Careful now Karla, Nixon knows you are here, it won't be too long before he remembers you,"

"I'll be careful," Karla replied as she disappeared out of the door.

Supreme Commander Nixon and Captain Danial Carson entered the high security detention centre, the reception area was like any other prison reception area on all other Federation worlds, it was a square room with one main entrance and two sets of double doors by the far corners, four chairs lined each side wall, no one else was present except the two guards who stood just inside the entrance and a reception guard who was sat at a rather plain desk that had one computer monitor protruding from it with a keyboard inset just in front of it, the two guards at the entrance immediately stood to attention. Nixon noticed their uniforms, they were perfect, not a crease,

"It is amazing what discipline can do," he said with a smile,

"Sir?" Danial queried,

"When I arrived the officers I saw including Lucifer were inappropriately dressed, these officers are not," 

Danial smiled,

"I imagine that you taught them the benefit of Federation pride," 

"That I did Carson," Nixon replied.

As the officers approached the reception desk, the duty officer almost fell off his chair as he tried to stand to attention. Danial smirked but Nixon wasn't so amused,

"Clumsy," Nixon growled,

"Sorry sir, it will not happen again sir,"

Nixon ignored the apology,

"You should always be alert trooper," Nixon snapped,

"Yes sir," The officer cowered,

"You have a prisoner by the name of Kerr Logan, we wish to see him," Danial said firmly.

The officer quickly looked to his screen and began to hammer away at the keyboard, Nixon noticed the rank epaulette on the officers shoulder, he was an Ensign and it was obvious,

"Well?" Danial asked after waiting a while.

"Er...Ah! here he is," the ensign said triumphantly,

"Cell nine," he said as he looked up from his screen and smiled at Nixon.

Nixon regarded him with cold eyes, if there was one thing that Nixon had learnt over his military career it was to make the lower ranks fear him, it worked on most people, even Cory. There was only three people that Nixon knew didn't fear him, President Sleer, Danial Carson and the prisoner they were about to see,

"Have the prisoner transferred to interrogation cell two," Danial ordered,

"At once sir," the ensign replied.

Danial and Nixon stood inside the interrogation room, the room was quite small and dimly lit, on one side it had a control panel that was lit up by little L.E.D's with switches, dials and a vision/audio amplifier. All of the instruments were linked up to a detector-scanner, a device in which a prisoner would be strapped onto and asked questions using digital suggestion, if the prisoner fails to answer or lies they are given powerful electric shocks, Nixon was intent on using it on Logan. The door opened filling the room with a bright light and Kerr Logan was escorted in by two guards,

"Kerr Logan, it is about time we met, you have cost me a lot of my time trying to catch up with you, surely you didn't think you could evade capture forever," Nixon said coolly,

Logan smiled at him calmly,

"I would have expected you to have been here, in fact I would have been disappointed had you not," he replied sardonically,

Logan looked to Danial and smiled,

"You too? I'm flattered,"

"You may be amused Logan but you won't be when I have finished with you," Nixon said as he gestured to a guard to put Logan on to the detector-scanner.

Kerr Logan didn't resist as he was placed on to the scanner, his wrists, body and legs were strapped down as Nixon stepped towards him with a triumphant smile,

"After your defection I made it a mission in life to get you,"

"Enjoy it Nixon," Logan said,

"I won't be here long," he added,

"I know, you will shipped to Earth for trial and then, maybe a penal colony if you are lucky," Nixon laughed.

Logan smiled at Nixon who quickly looked away, he hated the fact that Logan didn't fear him, that even now Logan mocked him,

"Guard, start this thing when I give the signal," Nixon ordered as he placed a signal receptor on Logan's forehead before stepping back,

"Now."

Suddenly Logan's whole body jerked, his hands tightened, the muscles in his body flexed, his head craned back, eyes shut tight and his teeth clenched, after a short while Logan gave out an agonised scream. Nixon watched with satisfaction, his eyes appeared gleeful with amusement, this torture wasn't for questioning purposes, it was for Nixon's own personal pleasure, revenge for the embarrassment Logan caused when he went absent without leave. Nixon turned to Danial and smiled,

"Revenge is sweet,"

Danial looked away seeming uncharacteristically nervous.

Carl Simpson woke up from a very uncomfortable sleep on an old plastic chair, he wiped his eyes and yawned as he slowly sat upright, wincing as a pain shot from the small of his back to his shoulders. He looked over to his bunk and saw that Roxy Davis was still asleep, he envied her, he wished that he wasn't so good natured when it came to a good looking woman and his back was reminding him of that. As Carl Simpson stood up he heard the sounds of footsteps approaching, outside the bars of the transit cell in prison reception, Danial Carson appeared, behind the captain were two guards carrying between them the shattered form of Kerr Logan. Carl Simpson watched as Danial spoke to the duty officer who then walked to the cell door to open it, Danial turned to the prisoner and took a firm hold of his chin before he spoke to him. Kerr Logan was then dragged into the cell and dropped as if he was worthless, he hit the floor hard as the cell door closed. Kerr Logan's tatty flight suit was drenched in sweat, he tried to stand on his own, his strength gave way and he slumped to the floor, Kerr Logan tried again with the same result,

"Need a hand?" Simpson asked as he crouched down beside the new inmate,

Logan looked up at him, his face was bruised and scored with electrical burns, he had heavy black circles down his eyes and he was covered in a thick layer of sweat, he smelt terrible,

"That would be appreciated," Logan gasped in a rough broken voice,

Carl Simpson helped Kerr Logan to his feet, Logan's legs almost gave way under him, it was due to Simpson's help that Logan was able to reach the chair that Simpson had only that night slept on,

"Thank you,"

"What the hell did they do to you?" Simpson asked, looking up and down Logan's ravaged form,

"Supreme Commander Nixon doesn't like me, he decided to give me a lesson," Logan crocked,

Simpson pulled up another chair and sat opposite the new cellmate,

"Supreme commander Nixon? You have got powerful enemies,"

Logan managed to smile, Simpson noticed that even though Logan had been tortured he still had the look of total defiance in his eyes,

"Oh, I'm Carl Simpson,"

Logan rolled his head back, his neck cracked,

"That's better," he said,

"I'm Logan, Kerr Logan," the pilot said,

"What is it you've done to make the Federations Supreme Commander take such a dislike to you?" Simpson asked,

"I was one of the finest officers," Logan explained, 

"I became the best Federation pilot in service, I joined Nixon's personal elite force, I was a shinning example of a Federation officer, during one operation I decided enough was enough, so I turned my ship on the Federation elite forces top battle fleet and I destroyed them all, I then used my ship, a top of line pursuit ship that is, for smuggling, anyone could use my services if they had the money," Logan said boastfully.

"Sounds rather big headed of you,"

Simpson and Logan turned to see Roxy Davis looking at them,

"It's all true," Logan stated firmly whilst glaring at her,

Roxy suddenly felt a chill, she was now feeling very uneasy, Logan's eyes were very cold, Roxy swore that there couldn't be any life behind them,

"This is Roxy Davis," Simpson said as he gestured to the blonde,

"I could say it is a pleasure but I won't," Logan said flatly,

"The feeling is mutual," Roxy countered,

Simpson watched in amusement, Logan looked away and scanned the cell, the other prisoners were already beginning to stir, he noticed one prisoner who was sat up on a single bunk in the north corner who Logan recognised from Federation files. The man was wearing a grey and green prison one piece outfit, he had greying hair that was once dark brown and narrow close set eyes, he also had stubble that was not far from becoming a beard,

"What the hell," Logan exclaimed quietly,

"What is it?" Simpson curiously asked,

"Him," Logan said pointing to the prisoner,

Simpson looked around and saw the prisoner in question, he turned back to Logan,

"He's nothing but a drunk, I'd forget him if I were you, ever since I got here, which has been a little over a week now, he has been trying to convince people that he is someone he isn't,"

"Who does he say he is?" Roxy asked,

Simpson looked to her and then to Logan,

"He says that he is Kerr Avon, but we all know the Avon died here on Gauda Prime seven years ago,"

"He isn't lying, I've seen his file. That is Kerr Avon," Logan said with conviction and a smile, the smile seemed to light up Logan's battered features, all of a sudden it seemed as if Logan had never been tortured, as if the whole thing had been an act, Roxy found the transformation amazing. Logan took a deep breath and laughed, all the other prisoners looked his way obviously thinking that Logan was mad, Roxy thought that too.

"If the rebellion hear about him it would spell big trouble for the Federation,"

"Why?" Roxy asked,

Logan looked at her in amazement,

"You don't get it do you? Logan said mockingly, 

"The Federation have been telling everyone who would listen that the crew of Scorpio were all killed in Operation Blake seven years ago, the fact that Avon is alive is a statement, one that tells everyone that the Federation failed to finish the job, it also lets people know that the Federation can be beaten, it could be all the rebellion needs to lift them and get them organised into a proper fighting force,"

"You think that the sight of one man could do that, you must be kiddin'," Roxy chortled,

Logan gave her a hard stare which removed the smile that had formed across her lips,

"I shall speak with him," Logan said as he stood up,

"I have some news that might just interest him," he added as he walked across the cell to where Avon sat, Logan showed no signs of the fatigue that held his body only moments before, Roxy and Simpson looked at each other, smiled and then turned to watch Logan. At first it seemed as if Kerr Avon wasn't interested in the pilot but soon Logan had his complete attention, Avon smiled as Logan explained something to him, he then nodded after some further talking, Logan rose to his feet and walked back to the others.

"What was all that about?" Simpson asked,

"You will find out," Logan replied smugly,

Logan sat back on the chair and took another deep breath, Simpson could not believe the change in Logan, all of the scarring and bruising had gone, he seemed to have more energy now than when he was discarded in the cell,

"Tell me Roxy," Logan said softly,

"What is a nice girl like you doing here?" He asked patronisingly, 

"She doesn't know," Simpson answered for her,

"You must know," Logan protested,

"I don't," Roxy replied, she was about to get upset again,

"All I was doing was minding my own business at my farm in zone four when these Federation officers drove in and arrested me," Roxy explained sadly,

"Zone four, that is outside the city isn't it?" Simpson queried,

"Yes, So?"

"They were expanding the city over zone four weren't they?"

Roxy looked inquisitively at Simpson, she wasn't sure what he was getting at,

"I know," she said,

"They asked me to leave saying that I would get a home in the city

but I refused," Roxy stated as she hit the bunk with her fist,

"That is why you are here," Logan said informatively,

"Explain," Roxy demanded,

"You were in the Federations way, whatever gets in the Federations way is removed, that is what they are doing with you, by the time you get to Earth they would know exactly what to charge you with," Logan explained.

Suddenly it dawned on Roxy, she couldn't believe that she hadn't seen it earlier,

"Fakking Sods," she shouted,

"Bloody sods," she added shaking her head,

"I'm not going to stand for this," Roxy said to herself,

"I'm going to do something about it,"

Logan had stopped listening to her petty ramblings as he noticed two men and a woman walking around the outside of the transit cell, it seemed crazy to him that the duty officer hadn't noticed them, perhaps he knew they were there, maybe it was nothing, then suddenly, as Logan had been told earlier, at this exact time all hell broke loose.

All of a sudden an explosion ripped into the bars on the west side of the transit cell, the bars blew inwards and the bunks and prisoners who were near that side were thrown into the cell, two prisoners were killed as bunks crashed down on them, others were injured by the blast and flying shrapnel The injured groaned as the smoke died, Roxy had dived onto the floor by her bunk, Simpson dived with her, holding onto her, his hands resting uncomfortably over Roxy's bust, she quickly shrugged him off and angrily elbowed him in his ribs. Two Federation guards ran into the prison reception to see what had happened, they were immediately cut down by the gunfire of the duty officer. Kerr Logan was the first to stand after the explosion was surprised by what he saw, he was soon joined by Kerr Avon,

"Time we made our move I think,"

"Agreed," Logan said with a nod.

Avon and Logan rushed out of the cell and Karla Ford met them,

"Grab their guns," she said as she pointed to the two dead guards.

The former prisoners armed themselves, the duty officer removed his helmet, it was John Blake,

"You are free," Blake yelled to the still dazed prisoners,

"Get out of here while you still can," he added.

The uninjured prisoners made their escape, one prisoner barged his way passed Blake as Karla turned to Logan,

"You are Kerr Logan, right?"

"I am," Logan replied curiously,

"Good, we will need your help," Blake said,

"Mine?"

"Yes Logan, we intend to steal a ship that has just been constructed, we need a pilot, I hear that you are pretty good," Blake explained,

"If this ship is my way out of here, then I'll help you," Logan said as he checked his new weapon,

"I'm with you too," Avon said,

"I have a debt to collect," he added,

"All right then, time we left," Blake said as he turned to the door.

As Blake, Karla, Avon and Logan were about to leave, an injured prisoner grabbed hold of Logan's ankle, Logan glared at him, it was the same prisoner who had thrown Roxy out of her chair the previous day,

"Help me," he pleaded.

It was obvious that the explosion had injured him, it was also obvious to Logan that if he helped the prisoner he would only slow them down,

"Please," the prisoner begged,

Roxy and Simpson watched from behind the bunk as Logan lowered the Federation gun at the prisoner, the prisoners eyes widened as he reached out a hand to Logan in a vain effort to protect himself,

"No," he protested,

Without blinking an eyelid, Kerr Logan pulled the trigger, the prisoner crumpled, he was dead. Roxy just couldn't believe that anyone could be so heartless, her stomach turned, she felt physically sick, 

"You would have slowed us down," Logan said quietly to the corpse, he turned to Roxy and Simpson who were looking at him with petrified looks on their faces, he stepped nearer to them as Blake, Avon and Karla joined up with Blake's comrades, Daly and Nova, who had been with Karla during the explosion.

"Come with us if you want to live," Logan said firmly,

"What if we don't?" Roxy asked trembling,

"The Federation will kill you, you may not want to run but the Federation will want to cover up what has happened here today as effectively as possible, that means that they will kill anyone they capture including you," Logan replied quickly but in a hard tone.

Suddenly the alarms sounded,

"Quickly Logan," Blake yelled from the doors of prison reception,

Logan looked to him and nodded, he then turned back to Roxy and Simpson,

"Well?" Logan asked them,

They hesitated, Logan turned his gun on them,

"If you don't join us then you can join him," Kerr Logan said as he pointed at the prisoner that he had just killed,

Roxy and Simpson looked at the corpse and then at each other, it was an easy choice now, in fact there was no choice at all, Roxy and Simpson stood and then they ran to the door.

Nixon was sat in Lucifer's office reading the report that Danial Carson had compiled on Base Commander Lucifer, it didn't make for pleasant reading, he looked away from the computer monitor and glared directly at Lucifer, he took a deep breath and was about to speak as the door chime sounded,

"Enter," Nixon shouted,

The door opened and Captain Cory Williams entered holding a report pad, there was a sense of urgency in her manner,

"What is it Cory?"

"That woman you wanted to know about sir," Cory said as she barged passed Lucifer,

Lucifer gave her a hard stare, he was beginning to hate this woman,

"Her name is Karla Ford," Cory revealed,

"Karla Ford?" Lucifer asked, he hadn't heard of that name before but by the way

Nixon exploded made it clear to Lucifer that he should have done,

"A rebel, there are rebels here," Nixon roared, he took one last look at Danial's report and nodded,

"Danial is right," he said coldly.

Suddenly the bases emergency alarms sounded,

"I'll deal with you later," Nixon snarled at Lucifer as he rose to his feet.

Off of a wide corridor, Blake and the group of rebels and former prisoners took refuge in an office, Federation guards fired on them as they tried to get closer. Blake and Karla covered the door, every black uniformed guard that tried to approach them were shot at, sometimes they would be killed and other times they would be lucky and make it to cover. Nova sat on the only table in the office whilst checking the power gauge on his Federation weapon, he nodded as Daly sat beside him,

"All right?" Daly asked, he was breathing quite heavily,

"Yeah I'm fine," Nova replied as he held up his gun and inspected it,

"I just hope that the other groups are having better luck," he added sombrely.

Daly decided to give his gun a quick check over, the energy cell registered only half of full power,

"Anyone got another power cell?" He asked,

Daly looked around the group, Avon shook his head as did Logan, Simpson wasn't armed,

"Sorry mate," Simpson said apologetically,

Daly turned to the blonde woman, she looked the more worried of the group, she jumped every time either Blake or Karla fired at the Federation troops, even scared out of her wits Roxy Davis still managed to look stunning, it was obvious to Daly that she wouldn't have a power cell, all she did have was a large red bag that she held on to tightly.

"Either of you two got a power cell?" Daly asked his comrades at the door who both shook their heads,

"Well, I hope I make it," he sighed,

"You will," Nova said hopefully.

"We haven't got far to got now," Karla said as a plasma bolt exploded above her, she ducked as concrete chippings showered her head,

"We can't stay here forever," Logan pointed out,

"How far do we need to go?" Kerr Avon asked,

"Not far," Karla said,

"Just down this corridor, around the corner to the left and straight on about another hundred meters," she continued.

Blake fired a volley of shots as two Federation guards tried to rush them, both guards fell dead,

"With them pinning us down in here?" Simpson shouted,

"We're not gonna make it," Roxy murmured,

Logan glared at the petrified woman,

"Yes we will," he said firmly,

"Oh yeah. How?" Roxy shouted as she looked around the room, there was only one way in and out and that lead into the corridor and into the sights of the Federation troopers handguns,

"We're gonna die," she said aloud, the more shoots that rang out the more scared Roxy became,

"No we're not," Simpson said soothingly, hoping to calm her down, all it did was to make her even more scarred,

"Yes we are, we all are," she shouted,

Roxy was close to hysteria, Logan quickly grabbed her shoulders and held her tight against the wall behind her,

"You will shut up," He said firmly, his cold hazel eyes glaring straight into hers,

"Such comments are not useful," he snarled,

"If you do not shut up I will kill you is that clear?" Logan warned,

Roxy's eyes filled with tears, she tried to suppress them but she couldn't. Roxy wasn't used to situations like this, unlike Logan she hadn't been trained for it, Roxy was afraid and she saw no one that could help her, the others looked at Logan who still held Roxy against the wall, it seemed as if he spoke for all of them, or at least that is what Roxy thought.

The corridors that lead from the command offices to the engineering sector was full of Federation troopers, all of them were from the Iron Guard, the standard infantry, they scurried in and out of rooms, shooting anyone that wasn't Federation or Administration personnel, among their ranks was Captain Cory Williams, she wore an ear-piece to which information was sent to and from the many units engaged in the battle, just ahead of her was Supreme Commander Nixon, he walked at speed which Cory found difficult to keep up with without having to run, Nixon was still angry, his rage was so intense that Cory was sure that she could touch it. Around them all they could hear was the sound standard issue military boots hitting the floor accompanied by the sound of gun fire,

"Where are the rebels?" Nixon asked,

Cory listened to her ear piece,

"One group is in the waste disposal section and another group is in alpha sector sir,"

"Some of the group in sector alpha have been identified," Cory added,

"Names Cory, give me their names," Nixon ordered as he rounded a corner.

Cory followed on after him, listening to her ear-piece,

"Identified as Karla Ford, Kerr Avon and Kerr Logan sir," she reported,

Nixon kept on going as another name was reported to Cory, she felt herself become cold, she swallowed hard,

"One other name sir, John Blake,"

Nixon stopped in his tracks, he looked around the corridor, searching for Lucifer as Cory joined his side, at blinding speed Nixon grabbed the nearest trooper,

"Take two others, find me Lucifer, if he resists kill him," he ordered,

"Yes sir," the trooper said as he pointed to two other guards,

"You two, come with me," he ordered, the three troopers ran off.

"He lied to me," Jack Nixon said between clenched teeth,

"He will die for this," he added,

Cory didn't doubt him. Nixon turned and checked the area ahead of him.

"Where is Blake now?" He asked,

"Blake is heading towards the construction hanger," Cory reported, she suddenly remembered what was being housed there,

"To your Hunter class ship sir,"

"Blake intends to steal it," Nixon said with wide eyes,

"Tell Fleet Commander Wilson to engage anything that leaves Gauda Prime, tell him that he is authorised to use extreme force,"

Cory acknowledged his order and called the elite forces battle fleet, After a short while Cory received a reply,

"Sir, they say that they are on the other side of the planet on manoeuvres as ordered by Captain Danial Carson," Cory said inquisitively.

"Manoeuvres, why would he order that?" Nixon asked,

Cory shrugged her shoulders, she had no idea,

"I'll ask him later once we have Blake." Nixon said firmly as he set off down the corridor.

Karla turned to Blake as he shot yet another guard, they still hadn't moved out of the office, she was now beginning to get concerned,

"How are we going to get out of here?" She asked quietly hoping that Roxy wouldn't hear her,

Blake took a deep breath, he didn't want to cause a panic but he had to face up to the situation, things looked grim,

"It seems as if we are going to have to make a run for it,"

"But how? The moment we leave this room they could cut us down," Avon said as he gestured out of the door, he wasn't too keen on the idea,

"I'll cover you," Logan said as he walked nearer to the door,

Blake was surprised to hear Logan suggest such an idea,

"Give me another gun," Kerr Logan said as he reached out his hand and offered it around the office, Daly handed Logan his gun saying,

"It's only got half a charge,"

"That will do,"

Logan took the gun and looked to Blake,

"Excuse me,"

Blake nodded and moved out of the way, Logan took his place,

"Fire down the corridor Karla, two shots should do it,"

Karla curiously looked at Logan, like everyone else she did not know what Logan was planning,

"Go on Karla," Blake urged,

Karla fired two clear shots, one hit and killed a guard and other guards dived for cover, just then Logan threw the half charged Federation weapon down the corridor, he watched where it landed, he smiled as it landed just in front of the nearest group of guards,

"What the hell are you doing?" Daly shouted, the others seemed to be thinking the same thing before Logan explained,

"This type of hand gun tends to react badly to heat,"

"So?" Karla asked,

"So get ready to run for it," Logan replied.

Soon, all the group were huddled up by the door, Logan quickly pointed his gun down the corridor and took aim at Daly's gun and fired, it was a perfect shot, the gun exploded with the same force as a concussion grenade,

"Run now," Logan ordered,

Daly, followed by Blake, Karla, Roxy, Simpson and Avon ran out of the office and into the corridor, as the group made their escape Logan and Nova fired down the corridor whilst making their own get away, after recovering from their disorientation the Federation guards began to open fire, one shot hit Nova clear in the chest, he staggered back and slumped to the floor, dead. Logan quickly scooped up Novas gun

and turned it onto the firing troopers, one shot bounced off the door frame, just missing Logan as he back peddled, the plasma bolt continued forward and hit Daly between the shoulders, he fell forward, he was dead before he hit the floor, the group ran on passed his body and made it around the corner. 

Blake looked down the corridor to a pair of large white double doors,

"In there," he said, pointing to them,

"Karla," Blake called over the sound of gunfire,

"Yes," she replied breathlessly,

"Take Roxy, Simpson and Avon and get them to the ship,"

They nodded, no one needed to be told twice,

"What are you going to do?" Avon asked,

"Help Logan," Blake replied,

"Now go,"

Karla gestured to the others to get a move on, the four of them ran as Blake turned his gun to the battle that was still raging in the corridor they had just left. It seemed amazing to Blake that with all the plasma bolts being let loose Logan hadn't been hit. Blake fired off a quick volley,

"Come on Logan, move it,"

On hearing Blake's call, Logan turned and darted as fast as he could away from the Federation troopers as Blake fired off more plasma, Logan dived around the corner, one bolt almost hit him,

"Let's get to the ship," Blake said,

"I couldn't agree with you more," Logan replied with a smile.

The rebel leader and the one time Federation pilot made their move to the Federation starship construction hanger, they ran through the double doors and noticed that the others hadn't entered the ship, they were standing by the entry ramp, a man in a Federation uniform held them at gun point, it was Danial Carson. Blake and Logan joined the rest of the group,

"Just making sure that these people didn't think of leaving without you Blake," Danial said with a smile,

"Good seeing you again Danial," Blake said as he walked to him.

The others suddenly realised what was happening and the relief was obvious,

"Shall we go?" Danial said, gesturing to the ramp behind him,

"We must, we must," Roxy said who was the first to run for the ship,

the others followed suit, as Avon entered the ship he turned to Blake,

"It looks as though the Federation succeeded in building their very own Liberator,"

"Let just hope they got it right," Blake said with an amused smile,

Karla was walking beside the two men, she tapped Blake's arm to get his attention,

"So he was your informant," she said as she pointed at Danial Carson,

"Yes Karla,"

"Take the others to the flight deck," Blake ordered.

Blake and Karla smiled at one another as they reached the top of the ramp,

"Come on, this way."

Whilst Karla lead the group to the flightdeck Blake's hand danced over the small control panel which operated the entry ramp, with the ramp closing Blake saw the double doors of the hanger blow inwards and the hanger was soon filled with Federation troopers. Blake quickly ran into the flight deck, Logan was

already at the flight controls that were positioned on the second of three levels which made up the flight deck,

"Time to do your thing Logan,"

"Already there," Logan said as he brought the ships drives online. There were only five flight positions, Blake saw that all but Avon had taken a seat. Kerr Avon was stood over Orac, he looked down at his old computer as his hands caressed its rough edges, he thought that he would never see it again, Avon noticed the activation key that was positioned on top of the outer casing next to the slot where it was to be inserted, he smiled as he took the key and pushed it into a pocket,

"Together again, and once more you are mine,"

"We've got a problem," Karla shouted,

"What is it?" Blake asked, he sounded concerned,

"The hanger doors, they are locked," Karla said as she activated the main monitor,

Blake turned as the big screen lit up it showed him two closed bay locks,

"Damn," he cursed, they were so close, too close to be stopped by something like this,

"It's not a problem," Danial said as he lent forward from his flight seat and started to hammer at the control board in front of him.

Three bright green neutron beams lanced out of the three smaller pods that were attached to the main hull of the ship, they impacted on the hanger doors which exploded immediately, the Federation guards that had been firing their guns on the hull of the ship in a vain effort to prevent its launch were showered with sharp metal fragments, all the Federation troopers that were in the hanger would soon begin to die from neutron radiation sickness caused by the ships neutron beams. The ships twin drives roared loudly, deafening the troopers inside the hanger and as they held on to their ears in a vain effort to keep back the noise, the Federations prototype of the Hunter class pursuit vessel hovered over the hanger floor, its four landing gears disappeared into the hulls of the two lower pods as it flew out of the hanger with an almost natural grace.

There was a collective sigh of relief as Kerr Logan steered the ship up and away from Gauda Prime, Roxy closed her eyes and for now at least she hoped there would be a chance to rest, she needed one, she sat back and sighed.

"This is Freedom," she thought to herself, not noticing that she had actually spoken aloud, Blake smiled at her as the others looked on,

"Quite appropriate name for this ship don't you think?" He said as he looked around the ships new crew,

"Freedom," Avon said,

"Yes Avon, Freedom," Blake said with a smile, he turned his smile to Roxy who managed a somewhat weary smile back.

"Where do we go from here?" Carl Simpson asked,

"I know a place," Logan offered,

"My old smuggling base,"

"If it's safe," Karla said,

"It most certainly is," Logan stated firmly,

"I don't see why not," Blake said nodding,

"One thing Blake," Danial Carson said as he climbed out of his seat,

"I will not be going with you,"

"I thought as much," Blake said,

"Where do you want to go?" Kerr Logan asked, he was quite willing to see Danial go, he didn't trust him, Danial was present during his interrogation, watched him suffer and did nothing, he may have told Logan of the planned jail break but that was no where near enough to call them even, Blake and Danial got that impression too,

"Say where you want to go Danial and we will go there," Blake said,

"Fine," Danial said,

"That will be fine with me." He added.

Supreme Commander Nixon and Captain Cory Williams, accompanied by a small squad of Federation guards entered the hanger, in front of them were wounded troopers, all groaning in pain as a team of medics tended to their wounds, the dead remained where they had fallen, one young ensign was huddled on the floor crying and no one seemed too bothered by him. Cory scanned the hanger with wide eyes,

"Oh my," she gasped weakly, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Nixon crossed his arms and shouted,

"Where the hell is my ship?"

An injured trooper limped over to him and gave him a salute,

"They took it sir, the rebels took it,"

Nixon grabbed the trooper by his uniform, he didn't care if the guard winced in pain,

"Looked like John Blake sir," the trooper whimpered,

Nixon's eyes rounded as he let the trooper go, he was furious,

"Where is Base Commander Lucifer?"

As if to answer his call a guard ran into the hanger and stood to give Nixon a report,

"Speak," Nixon shouted, making the officer jump,

"Sir, Base Commander Lucifer was found dead in his office, he had been shot in the head at point blank range,"

The guard handed Nixon a small audio disc player,

"This was found with the body sir, it was marked for your attention,"

Nixon looked curiously at the player,

"It's clean sir, no evidence of explosives were found on it sir," the guard reassured him,

Nixon took it and pressed the play button, Danial Carson's voice spoke calmly,

"At this moment Nixon you are looking for someone to yell at, so you can nurse your damaged pride, just so that you know I killed Lucifer, he had it coming to him anyway, if not from me it would have been from you, you see he found out that I was helping Blake, that I helped Blake and his group infiltrate security, he threatened to expose me, I couldn't have that so I killed him. Staying on Gauda Prime after this would have been foolish of me so I am with Blake and that other well known rebel Kerr Avon," Danial's tone turned to gloating,

"Sorry about taking your ship, but you see that it was the only way we could get off the planet, so until next time," the disc player stopped,

Nixon, who was already angry blew over the boil, he threw the disc player to the floor, it shattered leaving Nixon to stare blankly at the remains,

"I'll get my ship back if it's the last thing I do,"

"Why not simply start the construction of another one sir?" Cory asked,

"Because the hard copy plans were on the ship, and before you say it Cory the computer plans were in Orac that was also on the ship," Nixon shouted at her.

"This will be the Liberator all over again," he seethed, shaking his head,

"This time though we will destroy them," Cory Williams said optimistically,

"Yes Cory, we _will_ destroy them." Nixon agreed,

# Legacy Of Roj Blake

Chapter Two

A New Home

John Blake has stolen the Federations new Hunter class pursuit vessel, After leaving Danial Carson on the planet Albion, the new crew of the Freedom are now on route to Kerr Logan's old smuggling base.

With Federation patrols out searching for the small rebel group, Blake knows that all they need is time to rest and unwind from their recent excursions, but little do they know that rest is the last thing the group will get...

Sector eight, orbiting the planet known only as X,K, three eight nine, was the moon of Domserrat, it was very much like Earth in appearance, blue and green with masses of white clouds, on the moons largest continent were a series of L shaped single level buildings that formed into a square, positioned in the centre of them was a larger construction that was built into the ground so only half of its height was above ground level and a large ramp descended to the foot of the hanger doors, all of the buildings were in a bad state of repair, in fact a number of them were close to crumbling to the ground, plant life was growing up and over the walls and the air was fresh with a rich aroma of wild vegetation, there was silence, except for the softly blowing breeze and the sound of rustling leaves. Suddenly there was a high pitched scream that shattered that silence, a woman ran to the L shaped building on the north corner, she was tall with long, flowing dark hair, she reached an entrance and quickly brushed her hand over a small control pad, the door locks released and the door swung open, the woman ran in as a loud holler came from behind her, she turned to see a man in his late twenties running after her, she shut the door and ran into the crews section of the base. The man charged in and stopped, his eyes scanned the wide corridor, on either side of him in nine meter intervals were the entrances to the sleeping quarters, he slowly made his way down the corridor, listening carefully as he did so, his heavy flight boots squeaked on the floors clean surface, the man was close to cursing his boots and taking them off when he heard a rustling sound a few doors down to the left, he smiled,

"You can't hide from me Carmen," he declared.

There was silence again, these kinds of games were played out frequently between Carmen and Tyler. Tyler continued to the room where the sound came from, he reached the entrance and stood just outside by the door control, listening intently, there was not a sound coming from the room but Tyler's gut instincts told him that Carmen was in there, he touched the door control but stayed hidden outside the room, he popped his head around the corner, he could see no one.

"I know you are in here," Tyler taunted as he stepped inside.

Unseen by him Carmen had suspended herself above the door using her own belt, with Tyler stood beneath her Carmen released the belt and she fell on top of him with a thud, before Tyler could recover Carmen had pulled his arms behind his back and forced her knee between his shoulders, he gave out an agonised cry,

"Give in?" Carmen shouted,

Tyler tried to wrestle her off him but failed, her arm lock was too strong for him,

"Well, do you?" She asked,

"Yes," Tyler cried out after a little more struggling,

Carmen smiled victoriously as she let him go, she stood and offered her hand to him, he looked up at her, he couldn't believe that she had beaten him, Tyler shook his head and smiled and accepted her offer, he stood and gave Carmen a hug,

"You beat me girl, I do not believe it,"

"Ah, it was sheer class that beat you," Carmen said mockingly.

The two of them headed on towards the main control room, arm in arm.

"One thing Carmen don't tell Logan that you beat me,"

There was grovelling tone in Tyler's words, Carmen laughed,

"Who doesn't want to be ashamed of defeat then?"

She gently stroked his cheek and gave it a pat,

"My poor boy," she sniggered,

"Less of it Carmen," Tyler said grumpily,

"Can my Tyler not take losing," Carmen taunted him as she let go of his arm and went on ahead.

Tyler suddenly chased after her, Carmen gave out a shrill as she ran away from him.

Above Domserrat, a cloud of meteors drifted on by, two of them became caught up in Domserrats atmospheric pull and got dragged from the others and headed into the moons orbit, they both shot through the atmosphere and crashed not too far away from the base complex. One of the meteors simply broke up on impact, hurling its hot rock in all directions, the other landed only a mile away and it had survived the impact. It was black and brown and an oval shape, its outside hissed and smouldered, the grass around it had caught fire in patches and a scratching sound came from inside the meteor until all of a sudden, there was a crunch and a large scaly three digit hand reached out, it was coated in a dark green slime that dripped onto the cocoon and hissed as it cooked on its hot surface, long talons extended from the digit tips to about a foot long which sparkled in the sun light, as the hand flexed the occupant within the cocoon gave out a nerve chilling scream. 

Leaving sector nine and entering sector eight, the stolen Federation ship known as the Freedom headed to Logan's old smuggling base at the vessels top speed time distort seventeen, at the controls of the ship was Kerr Logan, he was sat monitoring the instruments of the rather ordinary flight controls, if there was one thing that Logan had noticed about the Freedom was, apart from its outer appearance which in itself was incredible, the rest of the ship was so unremarkable, it was like piloting any other Federation ship. Kerr Logan was the only one in the flight deck which he felt wasn't anything special, it was of a three levelled design that was common place in Federation command cruisers, the main floor had a small array of instrumentation next to an arched, nine seater comfy seat that curled around a glass topped table and there was a large vision screen on the wall, the second level was the flight control and defence level, there were three control positions, the central position was the flight controls, to Logan’s left was the weapons and tactical control board and on his right was the navigational and detector systems, behind the flight level and on the third level was two more flight seats that were the ships status systems and the communication system, all of the levels were interconnected by flights of steps that reached from level to level, the flight deck was in a triangular shape, each level had been built with the same shape in mind. Logan set the Freedom on automatic control and he sat back murmuring,

"Well Nixon, if this is the best your designers could come up with, then you should go back to the drawing board and start again,"

"Still not impressed then?"

Logan turned to see Blake climbing up the steps to the flight level,

"Not one bit," Logan answered,

"I've piloted better freighters than this," he added.

Blake smiled as he took the seat by the detector controls, he checked the small array of screens, the monitors were all clear, since stealing the ship they surprisingly

hadn't had too much to worry about, so far it had been plain sailing.

"What are the others doing?" Logan asked,

Blake kept his eyes on the screen,

"Avon is still working on the teleport, with Orac's help he thinks that we should have a similar teleport to the one he had on both the Liberator and Scorpio," he said,

"What about the others?"

"Simpson is not doing much, it is hard to get him to do anything at the moment, Karla is checking out supplies, oh and Roxy is helping Avon with the teleport,"

"Roxy?" Logan asked, he didn't think that Roxy was that good at doing anything, let alone helping with something as intricate as a teleport.

"Yes, she surprised me too, it seems as if she was one of the best electronics engineers on Gauda Prime, very highly paid too," Blake said with a smile,

"Brains as well as beauty," he remarked,

"Not even that, she is a beta grade Blake, nothing more, nothing less," Logan snapped, his attention never wavered from the flight controls, the automatic systems were doing their job, he turned to Blake,

"I'm surprised she stayed with us, I expected her to leave with Danial on Albion,"

Blake nodded, even he had thought that Roxy would leave then,

"Yes I was thinking that Simpson would do too,"

"I guess that they both thought that it was safer to stay with us," Logan said sarcastically,

"Why the sarcasm?" Blake asked,

"If I know your reputation as a freedom fighter, I will hazard a guess that we will end up fighting the Federation, not exactly safe now is it?" Logan explained,

"They know that they have a choice," Blake said as he lent towards Logan,

"You surely don't think that do you?"

"Why?" Blake pressed,

"If they leave this ship there is a fair chance of them being captured and killed by the Federation, also if they do leave and are not captured there isn't anywhere they could go, they have no identity papers and no credits, life wouldn't be good to them if they left either way," Logan explained,

"If I know Nixon, he would have found out who had escaped from Gauda Prime and their identities would have been posted to every Federation outpost, before long, every Federation officer would know who was onboard this ship, there would be nowhere to hide," Logan added firmly,

"So with that possibility and fighting the Federation, there _is_ no choice," Kerr Logan said as he finally turned to Blake.

Blake gave him an understanding nod, Logan was right, as much as Blake wanted to prove Logan wrong, the pilot was absolutely right and Logan guessed that Blake agreed with him. Blake decided to change the subject,

"How long will it be before we reach your base?"

"At current speeds we should be at our destination inside of twenty two hours,"

Logan replied,

"Which planet are we going to?" Blake asked,

Ever since leaving Gauda Prime, Logan had always referred to his base as "their destination", Blake was getting sick of the secrecy and Logan was clearly aware of this, he sensed Blake's annoyance.

"If you must know it is a small G type moon in orbit around a lifeless rock of a planet known only as X,K, three eight nine, the moons name is Domserrat."

"Is it a colonised moon?" Blake enquired,

"It was once, when my friends and I found the moon we discovered a number of buildings and a very large landing silo, the last computer entry told us that there had been a hazardous chemical release from some experiment. The facility was built for scientific studies of some sort, the science team had abandoned the complex and left a quarantine buoy in orbit over the moon," Logan said as he saw the concern grow on Blake's face,

"I can ensure that it is safe, I've lived there for almost two years," the pilot said reassuringly,

"I wasn't questioning you,"

"Yeah, right."

Blake turned and rechecked the monitors, just as they had been since leaving Albion, all of them were clear. 

Kerr Avon tried, almost in vein to climb out of the wires that hung loosely within one of the teleport service hatches,

"Well Orac?" He asked as he finally surfaced,

"WELL WHAT?" Orac in turn asked,

"AS I HAVE SAID TO YOU ON COUNTLESS OCCASIONS AVON, WELL, IS NOT A QUESTION," the computer snapped tetchily,

Roxy Davis helped Avon to his feet, she was smiling, Orac always amused her, she found it funny that a computer could ask more questions than it would answer, she stood back as Avon charged at the computer,

"The teleport Orac, is it operational yet?"

"SEE, THAT WASN'T TOO DIFFICULT WAS IT AVON, I HOPE THAT YOU ASK YOUR QUESTIONS IN A MORE PRECISE WAY IN FUTURE."

"Answer the question Orac," Avon ordered,

"THE MULTI FOCAL TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS STILL REQUIRES MORE ADJUSTMENT,"

"I have just adjusted it for the third time," Avon snapped,

"QUITE OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE NOT ADJUSTED IT CORRECTLY.

IT NOW REQUIRES AN ADJUSTMENT OF MINUS POINT THREE FIVE PERCENT,"

An enraged Avon removed Orac's activation key, its buzzing stopped with a whimper.

"Sometimes I must agree with what Vila used to say about this," he said as he turned to Roxy, she offered him a confused glance,

"He would call it a useless piece of junk," Avon explained,

"We are still gonna need it, without it we will not get the Teleport finished," Roxy pointed out,

Avon glared at her, he knew that, he didn't need to be told, especially by a beta grade, Roxy suddenly felt uneasy, Avon's glares always worried her, at times he could be colder than Logan. Simpson had described Avon as being a drunk, but so far Avon had remained totally sober, perhaps he was a drunk or maybe it had been just an act. Avon's glare faded, he didn't want to admit to the blonde woman that she was right. He slotted the key back in place, Orac's lights lit up and it began to buzz again. Avon turned to face the woman again,

"This time Roxy, you are going in there," he said in a hard tone as he pointed to the opening of the service hatch,

"Fine, monitor the adjustments I make Orac," Roxy said as she climbed through the loosely hanging wires,

"Once we finish this we can celebrate with a glass of wine," Roxy suggested,

"No thank you, I've had enough wine for one life time," Avon replied sombrely as he thought back to the seven years he had sent in prison, when he was given bottles of wine on a daily basis, he had refused them initially so he could keep his wits about him, the more prisoners that would come and go his resolve began to break down, he needed something to take away the reality of his situation so he began to drink and lots of it, he knew why the Federation were so willing to give him the wine, it was to make him look like a fool so that people wouldn't believe in him, he was now free of both the prison transit cell and of the alcohol and he was seeing things far clearer than since before going to Gauda Prime in search of Roj Blake. He now knew what was to be done, he knew that he must bring down the Federation, but he also knew that in this small group as John Blake's it could not be done, he needed to be involved with a larger organisation. He would stay for as long as he could, biding his time until something came up, then he would be gone. Kerr Avon turned his attention to the job at hand.

"Do you hear her Orac?" Avon asked with a smile, he knew that Orac would hate doing that kind of work, Orac would say that the job was beneath it,

"I HEARD HER AVON," Orac snapped,

Avon's smile widened, as Dayna had said to him once, Orac was too useful to destroy.

The Freedom only had two cabins, each one measured four meters by three, they had four bunks in each, two on each side, one above the other, on the rear wall there were four lockers, apart from the bunks and lockers which were a dark grey in colour, the cabins consisted of nothing but white, on one of these bunks in the room that had been allocated for the men, Carl Simpson sat, for him the flight seemed to go on forever, he had been born on Gauda Two, G.P's neighbouring world. The longest journey he had ever taken was from Two to Prime and that had been bad enough but even that flight had been better than this one, he covered his face with his hands and groaned,

"Can't be that bad surely?"

He looked up to see Karla standing by the door,

"More so," Carl Simpson grumbled,

Karla stepped into the cabin and sat next to him, Simpson had watched her enter and was now facing her on the bunk,

"I mean, there isn't much call for a civil engineer onboard a starship is there?"

"Not really," Karla conceded,

"You could have stayed on Albion, no one forced you to stay here," Karla stated,

"And gone where?" Simpson asked,

"It's not as if I could get work or anything without papers, and where would I have lived? I have no money now, my bank account has been frozen, I can't even use my business account either because the Federation has closed it down," Carl Simpson added,

"And now I can look forward to a wonderful life with a well know terrorist,"

"Freedom fighter," Karla put in,

"Freedom fighters, terrorist, both the same thing, they both fight against the established order,"

Karla nodded, in a way Simpson was right,

"What do you intend to do?" She asked,

"I haven't a clue," Simpson said as he stood up and walked to the other side of the small cabin, he turned and looked around to Karla, whose eyes had followed him,

"I mean, what can I do?" He asked whilst pointing to himself.

"Do you think that you are the first person to go through this?" Asked Karla,

"I had the same trouble too," she added, her temper rising,

"I was only eighteen when my parents were killed on Auron, murdered by President Servalan nine years ago," she shouted at him.

Avon heard Karla shouting, he looked towards the service hatch where Roxy was working, he knew that she could cope on her own for a moment, besides he trusted her to do the job properly, she was too scared of him not to, he turned and walked to the small cabin section.

Carl Simpson's frustration passed as he sat beside Karla and asked,

"What Happened?"

Karla seemed to look into an unfocused void as she remembered the day, the day of the plague,

"I was on a college trip to the Jewel Crown," she said,

"The Jewel Crown was the area of space where my people had been told the seven gods of Auron had come from," Karla explained,

"As we were on our way home we heard a broadcast from Auron asking for medical assistance, we arrived too late to help, all of the Auron people had died. Later I found out that the plague was a Federation pathogen," Karla said sadly as she came out of her trance like state, she turned to Simpson who now wore a mixture of stunned, shocked and sorrowful expression,

"The only good thing to come out of the whole thing was the fact that the gene stocks survived, so unborn children had the chance of life. A colony was set up on the planet Khan, it's still there now," Karla said with a hopeful smile.

There was a sound at the door, Karla and Simpson looked up to see Kerr Avon.

"It was Dr Franton's efforts that saved your people," he said informatively,

"I know," Karla replied,

"But if I remember correctly, you and the Liberator helped her,"

Avon looked away as if he didn't want to take the responsibility of saving the Auron people,

"It was due to an old Auron acquaintance of mine called Cally,"

"She lost her sister on that day, one named Zelda died in the Replication Plant," Avon added,

"A lot of good Auron's died that day, but many were saved thanks to you," Karla said appreciatively,

Avon looked at her silently and gave her a slight nod of his head before walking off. Karla smiled, she knew that he wouldn't freely admit saving the Auron people but by the sensations the came from Avon she felt that he knew that he was responsible and he still wished he could have done more, that was all Karla need to know.

"So you are an Auron?" Simpson asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit,

"Half Auron, my father was from Earth," Karla replied before taking a deep breath, she carried on with her life story,

"Afterwards I drifted from planet to planet, getting into trouble with the authorities and being arrested here and being arrested there, for five years I drifted aimlessly, then I met up with Blake, he gave my life direction, he helped me come to terms with my parents death. After heavy training I went from being a girl who wanted to be an accounts clerk to being a covert operations agent for Blake and the rebellion, I owe Blake everything, I thought my life was over but Blake helped me, he could help you too if you want it," Karla said quietly,

"He would do that for me?" Simpson asked,

"Yes, but only if you want his help, you are new in this game and one thing you are going to have to do is learn to trust someone, Blake is a trust worthy man, he has helped me more times than I can remember. You see it took me a while to get used to fighting, even longer to actually kill someone, luckily you haven't had that experience yet, I hope you never will," Karla answered grimly,

"It sounds as though you have gone through hell," Simpson said, trying to sound as sympathetic as he could,

"I did, now it's your turn," Karla replied sombrely.

Roxy Davis very slightly turned a tiny dial that was placed under the multi focal transmission system, all that it comprised of was a highly technical version of a communication set up and a high density holographic projector,

"Is it ready Orac?" she hollered out of the service duct,

"ADJUSTMENT IS STILL REQUIRED," Orac answered,

To Roxy's ears the computer sounded fed up, she too was beginning to feel the same way,

"By how much?"

She couldn't believe that one small job could be so irritating, she had now been working on the adjustment for a little over two hours, she glared at the dial and was very tempted to rip the thing out.

"BY ZERO POINT ONE PERCENT."

Roxy looked down and sighed, she wondered how Avon got her to crawl into the service hatch to begin with, she looked around the duct, it was a right mess, she had never seen such shoddy workmanship before,

"Certainly not a professional job," Roxy commented with a look of disdain,

"Should have fired the lot of them," she said referring to the engineers that built the ship.

Roxy gave the adjustment dial a light tap,

"PERFECT, THE TELEPORT SYSTEM IS NOW READY FOR TESTING," Roxy heard Orac say, she gave a sigh of relief before turning the locking screw under the dial, she glanced at it one last time and then turned to crawl out of the duct. Once out of the duct Roxy secured the entry hatch and looked around for Avon, he wasn't there, Roxy was about to walk to the flight deck when Avon returned.

"It's ready," Roxy said happily,

Avon smiled and stood over Orac,

"Is it?" He asked the computer,

"IS IT WHAT?" Orac questioned,

"Is the teleport ready?" Avon asked as he turned to Roxy and smiled,

"Irritating isn't it?"

"IRRITATING?" Orac snapped,

"DO I GET THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU AVON, FIND ME IRRITATING?" The computer asked,

"I MUST REMIND YOU THAT IT IS YOU, WHO IS IRRITATING. I FIND YOUR LACK OF TRUST IRRITATING AND TIME CONSUMING, I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO WITH MY TIME THAN HAVING TO DEAL WITH YOUR RATHER DISTRUSTING MANNER, ROXY HAS ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT THE TELEPORT IS NOW READY, ASKING ME TO MERELY REITERATE WHAT SHE HAS SAID IS A WASTE OF MY OPERATING CAPABILITIES. I WOULD NOW ADVISE THAT YOU TEST THE TELEPORT BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO USE IT."

Roxy smiled at Avon, he returned her smile with a look of annoyance.

"I'm glad that we have finished this, I need a break,"

As Roxy turned to leave Avon called after her,

"We have to test it now."

"No," Roxy said over her shoulder as she carried on walking,

"You test it, I've finished with it. It's all yours," she added before disappearing into her cabin.

Avon turned to Orac, he hated not getting his own way, he was tempted to drag Roxy back out of her cabin and force her into completing the testing with him, after a short time he decided not to. Blake had offered Roxy's services to him to keep her mind off what had happened, he had to admit that he wouldn't have been able to finish the teleport so soon without her, she was very good at her work, he could understand why she had been paid so much back on Gauda Prime, he sighed with reluctance, he must be going soft in his old age.

"Okay Orac, let's test this thing."

Kerr Logan sat at the flight controls, he was gently manipulating the controls, during the long flight Logan had made sure that he operated the ship on manual control, only on a few occasions did he put the ship on automatic, he wanted to know exactly how the ship handled, he had discovered that the Freedom was extremely manoeuvrable and the controls were very sensitive to the touch. As the pilot steered the Freedom to Domserrat, John Blake was sat on the comfy seat at the front of the flight deck, he was reading from a report pad that gave him the rundown of the moon Domserrat. The moon was very much like Earth, except the fact that it was only fourteen miles in diameter and it had been artificially created for the simple task of being a science laboratory, Blake finished reading from the pad and looked up at Logan,

"When do we make planet fall?" He asked,

"Not long now," Logan replied as he reached across his control board and activated the main screen,

"There it is," Logan said as he looked at the blue and green moon that was now displayed on the screen.

Blake turned to look at it, seeing how close it resembled Earth almost made Blake feel homesick, he hadn't been back to Earth in over ten years,

"Within an hour we will be resting in my base," Logan said with a smile,

"I think that I should give my friends a call," he added as he set the ship on automatic and climbed out of his seat,

"Friends?" Blake enquired,

He shot a hard look in Logan's direction,

"Yes, Carmen and Tyler, smuggling friends of mine," Logan explained,

"I was in a group of four, we would go out two at a time, my co-pilot was killed when we crash landed on Gauda Prime," he added,

"You don't mind if I call them do you?" The pilot asked,

"No, go ahead," Blake said calmly as he watched Logan ascend the steps that lead to the communications position.

Kerr Logan took to the controls and set the base frequency and entered a security code.

"Base one this is Kerr Logan, prepare for my arrival, confirm,"

There was no response, Logan repeated his message as Karla and Simpson entered the flight deck, Karla heard Logan speaking into the communications system and gave Blake a curious look,

"Who is Logan calling?"

"Some friends of his on Domserrat,"

"He didn't mention anything about any friends he may have on Domserrat," Simpson commented as he, with Karla climbed up on to the second level,

Blake rose to his feet and joined his two friends,

"First I heard too," he said as he turned to Logan.

It sounded as if Logan was having difficulties getting through to his base, Logan's expression said everything, he was worried,

"What's the problem?" Blake asked,

"I'm not getting a signal from the base,"

"Perhaps they are asleep," Simpson offered,

"Not at this time, on Domserrat it is early afternoon," Logan stated,

"Maybe they are out," Simpson offered again, he didn't want there to be anything wrong, he had just got over the shock of what happened during their escape from Gauda Prime.

"So what can you do?" Karla asked,

"I can't get into the silo so I will have to bring us down as close as I can to the base," Logan said as he stood walked back to the flight controls.

Avon walked in carrying Orac,

"Teleport is now operational, all I need to do now is build up a portable receiver for us to wear," he said triumphantly, it was as if to say that he may not be as young as the others but he could still beat the Federation and anyone else at building a proper teleport. Avon suddenly sensed there was a problem,

"What is it?" He asked,

"Logan can't get through to his friends in his base," Blake said,

"Friends, I wasn't sure that he had any friends?" Avon questioned with a sarcastic smile, his expression changed as he gave Logan a hard stare, it was enough to tell

Logan that he should have told them everything about his base and friends,

"Without them we can't open the silo locks, so I will have to land as close as I can to the base which in itself is a three hour hike," Logan stated firmly as he looked at each member of the crew,

"What's a three hour hike?" Roxy asked as she entered the flight deck,

Avon set Orac down onto the glass topped table and sat on the lounger,

"Orac, are you able to enter the Domserrat base computer and open the silo locks for us?" He asked,

"Can Orac do that?" Logan asked.

Except for Blake and Logan, the other members of the crew walked to the lounger and sat down, all of them were interested in the box of flashing lights,

"OF COURSE I CAN," Orac snapped tetchily,

"Open the locks Orac," Avon ordered,

The computer buzzed for a while,

"Is it completed yet Orac?" Avon asked,

"I HAVE TO BY PASS SOME SYSTEMS DUE TO SOME APPARENT DAMAGE TO THE COMPUTER CORE, I HAVE NOW BEEN ABLE TO OPERATE THE SILOS SYSTEMS AND THE LOCKS ARE NOW OPENING."

"Damage, what damage?" Roxy asked as the others turned to Logan, he seemed even more concerned now,

"Orac, what caused the damage?" He asked,

"THAT IS UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME, HOWEVER I COULD START A REBOOT PROGRAM AND ACTIVATE THE SECURITY PROGRAMS, THE INFORMATION SHOULD THEN BE ACCESSIBLE," the computer offered,

"Do it," Logan ordered,

"How long is it likely to take?" Karla asked,

"I WOULD TAKE LONGER IF I WAS INTERRUPTED BY UNNECESSARY QUESTIONS LIKE YOURS, I WILL LET YOU KNOW IN DUE COURSE,"

"That's Orac's way of saying do not disturb," Avon said with a crooked smile.

Logan turned to Blake,

"Time to take our positions for landing,"

Blake nodded and turned to the others,

"Take your places everyone,"

Karla took the weapons control seat, Roxy, the ships systems control, Avon, the navigation and detector systems and Simpson sat at the communications board, Blake took a standing position beside Logan's flight controls. With the crew in their allocated positions they brought the former Federation ship into Domserrats atmosphere. Logan had the look of intense concentration as he steadily controlled the Freedoms descent, the ship rocked violently as it passed through the atmosphere, Roxy quickly strapped herself in, Blake held on to the side of the flight control board to steady himself, as quickly as the rocking began it suddenly stopped. Logan smiled as he watched the screen, he could see the complex of L shaped buildings with the silo standing in the centre of them, he slowed the ship down, his hands dancing over the controls. Blake watched in amazement, Logan's hands moved so fast and with so much accuracy that he thought it would have been impossible. The Freedoms crew watched the screen as Logan brought the Freedom nearer the silo, he set the retros, they burned for short periods allowing the Freedom to simply glide into the dark silo.

“One of these days Avon, we’re going to go into one of these holes in the ground and never come up,” Avon said to himself, reminding himself of Vila’s words before their decent into Roj Blake’s base on G, P.

In perfect timing the four landing gears extended and locked into place, the landing gears took the brunt of the ships weight, the absorbers contracted, almost half the length of the landing gears disappeared into the hulls of the two lower pods. The retros fired once more as the Freedom came to rest.

"Perfect," Logan said as he closed down his control board,

"Deactivate drive systems and life support," he ordered,

Kerr Avon shut off the drives as Roxy closed down the life support,

"Open the landing ramp," Blake ordered,

"Opening," Karla said after hitting a button on her control board.

Before Blake could say another word and the others could move, the ship suddenly veered to the left,

"What's happening?" Roxy asked as she looked around the flight deck,

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Logan said as the others turned on him,

"Once a ship has landed in the silo the silo floor turns one eighty degrees to allow us to fly straight out,"

"Hopefully there is nothing else that you have forgotten to tell us," Karla said forcefully, there was a warning tone in her voice,

"Nothing else," Logan said as he stood up and strode out of the flight deck. 

Blake looked to the others and smiled,

"Let's move."

Kerr Logan stepped down from the lowering landing ramp and walked out from under the Freedom, the silo doors were closed, the internal lighting flickered on and off, Logan looked around, it seemed normal enough, however he still felt a sense of unease, he drew his gun and walked cautiously to the main entry lock that lead into the base, he touched the small control pad that was placed on the left hand side of the door but nothing happened, he tried again, this time hitting the control pad, still nothing happened.

"What's up?" Karla asked, her voice echoed around the silo,

"The door is not opening," Kerr Logan replied as he stepped away and aimed his gun at it,

"Let's see if I can do anything with it," Karla Ford offered as she placed her hand on Logan's gun and pushed it away.

Logan watched with interest as Karla examined the control pad, she removed the pads housing and began to move the wiring,

"I hope you know what you're doing," Logan said as the other crewmembers began to descend the landing ramp,

"I've done this kinda thing before, lock picking has become one of my specialities," Karla said boastfully,

"You mean that you have more than one?"

Logan's tone was sarcastic, Karla gave him a hard glare, at that moment the door locking mechanism clicked, the door hissed open,

"There you go," Karla said with a satisfied smile, 

Logan ignored her as he stepped forward, he quickly levelled his gun. The corridor that lead into the base was in a terrible mess, the lighting panels on the ceiling flickered on and off, some ceiling tiles were loose and hanging off support wiring, electrical conduit that had been ruptured, other ceiling tiles were scattered over the floor that were being showered by sparks of electricity. Logan noticed scoring from discharged weapons fire, the smell of ozone and burnt plasma was thick in the air. Logan stepped into the corridor, he noticed a series of deep serration's in the walls, they were split into groups of three and in perfectly cut lines, he moved closer for a better look, they had obviously been cut by something very sharp. He continued on his way down the passage, Karla followed close behind, she also had her gun drawn,

"I hope you don't expect us to live in a mess like this?" Karla said as she surveyed the damage,

Roxy was the next to enter, she shuddered when she saw the mess, that feeling came to her again, she felt as though she wouldn't be resting just yet, seeing the electrical damage Roxy knew that she would have her hands full for quite a while, Kerr Avon was just behind her with a gun in one hand and Orac in the other,

"What a mess," Roxy exclaimed,

"I imagine that Logan wasn't quite expecting this," Avon said with a sadistic smile,

"I hope not," Roxy replied as she followed Karla further in.

Karla and Roxy watched as Logan stopped at the end of the passage, it stopped at a tee junction, Logan looked both ways, it would appear that all the corridors where in the same state as the first. As Logan disappeared down the left hand passage, Kerr Avon barged on passed the two women, Blake and Simpson soon joined them. The others followed Logan left but stopped when they saw that he was crouching down by the foot of a door,

"What is it?" Blake asked,

Logan was studying a patch of what appeared to be a dried liquid, it wasn't too hard to work out what is was,

"Blood," he said,

"Been here for a while by the looks of it," he added.

Logan stood up and noticed an undamaged security camera,

"Has Orac gained access to the computers yet?" Logan asked, he remained looking at the camera,

"NOT YET," Orac replied,

"Taking a little longer than your usual time Orac," Avon teased,

"SECURITY SYSTEMS ARE EXTREMELY DAMAGED, IT IS TAKING TIME TO FIND A ROUTE INTO THE MAINFRAME TO ACCESS THE SYSTEMS," Orac explained,

"I'm going to the control room," Logan said as he turned and headed down the corridor in the opposite direction.

Logan headed passed the waiting group, Karla turned to Blake,

"What do we do?" She asked,

"Follow him," Blake replied, 

The control area was a twelve meter by fourteen meter room, it was split into two parts by a one meter high wall that was lined with an assortment of potted plants. One part was the operations section, on one whole wall there was a large monitoring station that was filled with banks of monitor screens, connected keyboards

and hard copy printers, if anything the hardware was state of the art, standing in front of it were three swivel chairs that were linked onto a rail on the floor. The other side of the room was the relaxation section, along one wall was a twelve seater lounging seat that had an in built glass topped table between every third seating position, on the wall above was a series of cupboards, some of the doors were hanging off or had been completely removed revealing shattered glasses and wine bottles, the control room was in the same state as the corridors. Logan stood in front of the monitoring station surveying the damage, all the monitors were blank, some had smashed screens, a couple of keyboards were damaged and some of the plating that once covered the stations inner workings had been ripped off or dented. Kerr Logan shook his head as the others entered the room,

"What a mess," Simpson said with a look of disbelief,

"I thought that you said it was going to be safe here," Roxy pointed out, there was a hint of fear in her voice, Logan shot a powerful glare at her,

"It was and it still should be," he snarled,

"No wonder Orac isn't having much luck," Avon said as he set the computer down on one of the glass topped tables,

"LUCK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT AVON," Orac snapped defiantly,

Avon smiled at Orac before turning to Blake, the group's leader looked concerned as he and the others studied the room, Roxy was checking over the monitoring station. Wires hung freely from under the workstations, some parts were missing but all in all it wasn't a total write off,

"I think that this is salvageable," she said in a professional tone,

"It's a full time job," Simpson said with a bemused look,

"You won't be doing it though, will you?" Avon pointed out,

"I guess that you have been spending too much time getting others do the work for you," Roxy retorted with a sarcastic grin,

"Anyway what's wrong with doing a full time job?" Roxy asked Simpson,

"Nothing," Simpson said defensively,

"Exactly," Avon said as he gave Roxy a calculating smile,

"What are you smiling at me for?" Roxy asked, she suddenly felt worried,

"You wouldn't mind a full time job now would you Roxy?" Avon asked,

"You mean this," she said, pointing to the station,

"No problem," Roxy Davis stated with a confident smile,

"But you can help me," she added firmly to Avon,

"Me?" He asked with a smile,

"Yes, you. Are you as good as your reputation says or are you passed it now?"

"Passed it?" Avon snapped,

"Yeah, you old fossil," Roxy retorted.

Blake smiled, it was clear that Roxy had grown in confidence, back on Gauda Prime she would never have spoken to Avon like that, Avon stepped menacingly closer to her, the defiant look that Roxy had held onto up until now faded away and the fearful uncertainty that she had worn for a large part of their journey to Domserrat returned, it was the response that Avon wanted, just to show Roxy that he was in charge, Avon then smiled,

"Get me some tools and let's get on with it," he demanded,

Roxy quickly turned to Logan who answered her unasked question,

"Down the corridor we came, second door on the right,"

Roxy nodded and headed out of the room. Blake watched Roxy leave and then turned to Logan,

"Where are your friends?" He asked,

Logan looked back at him as the others looked on,

"I have no idea," Logan replied,

"I suggest we look for them," Karla said as she joined Blake's side,

"If they are still alive," Avon stated,

They all turned to him, it was one thing that Logan hadn't thought about,

"I mean, it is not as if we know how this happened is it?" Avon added, pointing at the damaged control station,

"We will act as if they are," Blake said resolutely,

"Right," Logan agreed, the last thing he wanted was for his friends to be dead, he knew that it was unlikely for anyone to survive a crash like the one he had survived when he landed on Gauda Prime. If anyone should be dead it should be him, or at least that is what he thought, he had actually hoped for it as well. Roxy returned carrying a large box that was filled with various tools.

"Okay, Avon, you stay with Roxy, the rest of you, lets find Logan's friends," Blake ordered, he hoped that he sounded optimistic for Logan's sake as much as for everyone else, if there was one thing he had noticed in the group since they had arrived on Domserrat was the fact that they were all on edge and he didn't want to contribute to it.

The group of three men and one woman stayed close together as they proceeded down the corridors of the base, wherever the group went they were greeted by the mess they had first witnessed upon entering the base, the whole place was a mess, ceiling tiles had fallen to the floor and shattered, electrical conduit had been ruptured, sparks of electricity rained down to the floor, the smell of ozone became stronger and scoring of weapons fire marked the walls and ceilings. Every so often they were met by those distinctive three cuts in the walls, whatever had caused those cuts had to be very sharp, the walls were made of a steel/titanium mix that had been forged to the point that even diamond and laser cutting equipment couldn't cut through it, whatever could do this level of damage was not something the members of the group wanted to meet alone, if it was still here. They passed a room that was simply marked, stores one, Simpson noticed something on the floor,

"Look," he said, pointing to what appeared to be a spillage of some kind of liquid,

Logan was the first to react as the others kept their weapons trained down the corridor, Kerr Logan careful touched the spillage, it was warm, when he pulled his fingers away from it a cap of red liquid remain on his finger tips, he rubbed it into his thumb as Blake crouched down beside him,

"Blood," Blake said,

"Yes, this time it's fresh," Logan replied,

Karla stepped back and gestured for Simpson to do the same as Blake and Logan stood and took their positions on either side of the door,

"On three," Blake said,

The others nodded,

"One..,"

Simpson suddenly felt all clammy, his palms became sweaty and the hairs on the

back of his neck stood on end,

"Two..,"

Kerr Logan felt a surge of adrenaline, his heart began to race,

"Three,"

In one swift move, almost as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times before Blake hit the door control, the door hissed open and Logan rushed in with his gun levelled and ready to use, he was beaten back by an intense volley of deadly plasma, the gun shots just missed Logan and hit the wall behind him, Karla and Simpson jumped out of the way as the bolts of plasma impacted on a large section of wall that showered them with hot sparks. Logan had already made his way to safety.

"Go away you beast," came a panicked stricken cry from inside the stores,

Logan recognised the voice immediately, it was his friend Carmen Maximus, he raised his hand to Blake who was about to return fire,

"Don't fire."

If there was one thing he knew about Carmen it was the fact that she didn't scare easily, Logan had never heard her sound so petrified,

"Carmen, it's me Logan,"

There was a silence, Karla stood rubbing her hand that had been burnt by the earlier sparks, Simpson looked to Blake who in turn was watching Logan, after a short silence Carmen asked,

"Kerr Logan?"

"Yes,"

"I heard you got caught," her voice was shaky,

"I did, I escaped,"

Logan stepped out into the door way and switched the stores lights on, only one of the three lighting panels lit up, inside Carmen was huddled in the corner, hiding behind a large crate, empty food and drinks cartons littered the floor along with the remains of a medical kit. Logan stepped over the mess, he noticed something in the opposite corner that was covered with a heavy blood stained blanket, he suddenly turned to Carmen who was watching him with wide eyes from her corner,

"Tyler?" He asked, pointing at it,

She gave Logan a shaky nod, Logan's concern mounted, Tyler was a damn good fighter, during sparring matches Logan rarely beat him.

"How?" Logan asked as he stepped around the crate and crouched down in front of his friend,

Carmen saw movement behind Logan and quickly aimed her gun,

"They're with me," Logan said, realising that she had just seen Blake and the others who were now standing in the doorway waiting, he looked at her and pitied her. Carmen was a fairly attractive brunette with slate grey eyes and a cute little nose, although she now looked exhausted, her usually clean and well kept hair was greasy and matted and a large bruise covered half her face.

"How Carmen?" Logan asked again,

"The creature, the beast, came here, attacked, couldn't stop it, guns, useless, couldn't stop it," Carmen said in an increasingly hysterical tone,

Logan took a firm hold of her shoulders,

"You're safe now," Logan said as soothingly as he could,

"No, not safe, if it comes back, it will kill us all," Carmen said, her eyes wide, looking straight into Logan's.

Simpson stepped out of the room and then suddenly turned back to it,

"The woman's crazy," he said as he re-entered the room, pointing to Carmen,

"Shut up Simpson you are not helping," Logan snapped,

"Ignore him," Logan said to Carmen quietly,

"He's a fool and an idiot," he added with a smile,

"Never did have time for anyone did you?" Carmen said with a very weak smile,

"You know me," Logan said with a crooked grin,

Carmen's smile became very slightly warmer, they hugged each other as Simpson left the room again saying,

"Creature my butt," 

Simpson turned and looked down the corridor, suddenly his heart stopped, ahead of him, looking straight back at him with featureless big black oval eyes was a seven foot tall humanoid creature, its huge bulk of a body was covered head to foot with black/dark green scales, just below its eyes were two small orifices that were obviously the creatures nostrils, its mouth was large and from it emerged a three forked tongue, it raised a three digit hand in front of its face and from each digit, with incredible speed, foot long silver talons appeared.

"Blake," Simpson said shakily,

Blake didn't hear him,

"Blake," he said slightly louder,

Carl Simpson's throat felt suddenly dry, he was shaking on the spot, he felt himself becoming extremely clammy and his heart raced, Simpson had thought that he had experienced fear during the escape from Gauda Prime but he was wrong, staring at the creature, that was in turn staring at him as if he was lunch made him realise what true fear was,

"Blake." 

Roxy Davis reached her from under a workstation,

"Could you get me a forty watt laser probe?" She asked,

Kerr Avon sifted through the box of equipment that Roxy had bought from the stores, he found it buried under some circuit cutters, it was pen shaped with one small button that was marked with red, green and white hoops, the electrical coding for forty watt tools, Avon handed it to Roxy whose hand then disappeared back under the station. Avon remained silent as Roxy went to work, she had been under the monitoring station for just over an hour, Kerr Avon felt a little useless, technology had changed in the last few years, Avon had missed all the new developments while he was imprisoned on Gauda Prime, he hadn't even known that the Tarriel Cell, the wonderful invention of Ensor senior who had also created Orac had now been replaced by a faster and smaller Micrel Cell, he had only found out earlier because Roxy had been involved in the development of it, she had surprised him with her knowledge and skills, every time Roxy had come up against a problem she had been fast in finding its solution, by now she had already accessed the main power core and restored some of the controls. Roxy knew exactly what she was doing, as she worked Roxy hummed or quietly sung to herself, on the odd occasion she would break into a whistle, Avon had found himself in the duty of passing her tools and confirming that something or another was working, he found it frustrating, he had been away for too long and now a woman who was only twenty two years old knew more than he did and she was giving the orders, he decided that he would have to learn about the changes in modern technology. Avon turned to Orac, perhaps even Orac was now considered old, maybe it was the new Micrel Cells that prevented its entry into the base computer mainframe and Orac was not wanting to inform anyone of its inability to do so.

"Are you sure you are only a beta grade?" Avon asked,

Roxy linked up the monitors , which lit up with static,

"Yeah," she replied,

Avon shook his head, he couldn't bring himself to believe it, perhaps the grading system had changed too, no beta that he had known would ever have been able to do this kind of work,

"I passed all the papers on electrical engineering but I didn't do too well at the others so basically I'm a beta plus," Roxy said as she popped her head out of the station and offered the probe back to Avon,

"And because I only passed on one subject they said that I wasn't good enough to be an alpha," she went on,

"I was gutted, I hoped to be the first in my family to go from being a beta to becoming an alpha,"

Roxy crawled out from under the work station and stood up, she turned to Avon and smiled,

"Life sucks doesn't it?"

"Simply put but correct," Avon said as he reflected on the seven years he had been imprisoned, he had lost out in a lot of ways, but Avon could still smile, he still had over six million credits in various accounts which he had embezzled from the banking cartel that the Federation still hadn't recovered even though they had arrested him as he tried to steal more credits from the Federation banking system later that year, after the last twelve years that six million would of built up with interest, it would grow into an incredible sum and that was worth smiling about.

"Orac, can you now access the mainframe?" Roxy asked,

"ACCESSING, SYSTEMS CONTROL IS ON LINE, NOW ACCESSING MEMORY CORE," Orac announced,

Roxy smiled, she turned to one of the small tables where she had left her big red bag, she picked it up by the handle and as she slung it over her shoulder the handle snapped, the bag fell to the floor throwing out all her belongings,

"Fakk it!" Roxy exclaimed,

She knelt down and began to collect up her things, a tooth brush, a make up box, hair brush, shampoo, soap, deodorant and some items of clothing, running shoes, black shorts, a top, white blouse, big baggy leggings, underwear and a heavy black sweater. Avon was fairly surprised to see what Roxy had managed to fit in the bag, it didn't appear to be big enough for all that,

"Could you give me a hand?" Roxy asked as she continued to gather her things,

"You look as if you are coping," Avon said dryly,

"Thank you," Roxy snapped,

As Roxy picked up a black tunic a silver metal cylinder rolled out from under it, Avon was curious, he crouched down and reached out for it, Roxy saw him and quickly reached out her hand to stop him,

"Leave it," she ordered,

Avon suddenly stopped, his hand hovering right over it, he turned to Roxy who had the look of absolute severity, Avon then looked back at the cylinder, it appeared to have a touch sensitive plate etched on its side, on the top of it there was a holographic funnel, with the concern that the blonde was showing Avon carefully picked it up,

"What is it?" He asked,

"Its a sabre now give it here," Roxy pushed out her hand to him,

"Now," she demanded,

Kerr Avon reluctantly handed it back to the blonde,

"What is a sabre?" he asked curiously,

"It's a weapon, a very old weapon,"

"A weapon?" Avon said dismissively,

"A sword if you like,"

"A sword, where is the blade?" Avon said mockingly,

Without another word Roxy took the cylinder with both hands, in an instant a blade of shining silver rose out from the handle to about a meter in length, Avon staggered backwards whilst looking straight at the blade,

"They let you take that into a prison cell?" Avon asked, referring to her imprisonment on Gauda Prime,

Roxy did not reply as she studied the blade.

"This can cut through just about anything," she pointed out,

"Where the hell did you get it from?"

"My father, he was an archaeologist, he was working in caverns on the planet Mars when he and his partner found it within a ruin of some kind of settlement, an alien settlement, it scared them to bits. They brought back some artefacts but he and his partner kept a sabre each to study. When they returned to Earth all of the artefacts were taken by the Federation, all but the sabres which they had hidden with their tools. They were told not to tell anyone of what they had found." Roxy said whilst reflecting on her past and her father,

"What is your father doing now?" Avon enquired,

Roxy closed down the sabre and using a hoop that was on the other end of the handle, she clipped it to her belt, she looked at Avon sadly and gave out a sigh,

"He's dead, he was murdered,"

Avon nodded but remained silent,

"He passed the sabre on to me on his death bed, made sure that I kept it safe," Roxy said softly,

"He was such a nice man, protective of me and my brother and sister, he was always full of love, nothing was too much for him if it helped his children. Do you know what that is like?"

Avon thought about it for a moment, he had never known his father, he knew his name though, Rogue Avon, his mother Rowena had mentioned it to him before he went to live with Anna Grant and her family, he was also told that Rogues brother Axel Reiss had murdered him during a duel to the death, he had vowed revenge which he had achieved, Avon shook his head,

"No," he simply replied,

Roxy packed away the rest of her belongings, she was trying not to cry but remembering the agonised man that had been her ever so strong father die in front of her she couldn't help it.

"As I said, life sucks."

With the two of them standing motionless the monitors on the station flickered on,

"SECURITY ARCHIVES NOW RUNNING," Orac announced,

Avon and Roxy watched the screens, nothing much was happening,

"Orac, take us to the point just before the system crashed," Avon ordered as he stepped closer to the monitoring station,

"VERY WELL,"

The screens went blank, after a short display of static Orac spoke again,

"RUNNING NOW,"

The screens lit up, they showed the corridors in the mess that they had found them in when they had arrived, just then, on screen three something moved in to view, something that was humanoid in shape but reptilian in appearance, its pink tongue flickering in and out of its mouth like a snake, its eyes were almost unnoticeable from its dark scaly body. Roxy and Avon turned to each other,

"What the hell is that?" Roxy asked, her heart felt as if it was about to stop,

Suddenly they heard gunfire,

"I think that we are just about to find out," Avon said as he drew his gun and with Roxy, turned to the door from where the gunfire was coming from.

One plasma bolt after another was fired at the creature, each one was as harmless as the one before, the creature kept on coming, snarling and waving its big arms around, with each step the creature made it left puddles of some horrifyingly smelly green mucus behind, the group of five backed away from it, all firing their weapons but all of them knowing that it was futile.

"I told you," Carmen yelled to Blake,

"Tyler and I have tried everything," she continued aloud while firing on the beast,

"We used neutron and plasma weapons on it, we tried to electrocute it, blast it, cut it, we shut it in to a section and removed the oxygen, lowered the temperature to well below zero and raised it above boiling point, everything we tried failed," Carmen shouted so she could be heard over the intense gunfire,

Blake turned to Logan,

"We better get out of here," he suggested,

"Get back to the control room, hopefully Roxy and Avon have got some of the systems operating now," Logan hollered,

"I'll cover," he added,

Carl Simpson and Carmen Maximus made a run for it,

"Not this time Logan, we go together," Blake said,

More shots rang out, Karla, who had fallen behind finally caught up,

"Carmen is right," she gasped,

"Guns are useless on this thing," she added between deep breathes,

"Will the control room be safe?" Blake asked,

The creature gave out a roar, Blake turned to it and let off a volley of plasma, all shots hit the reptile in the head but they all bounced harmlessly into the ceiling and walls, shattering ceiling tiles and glow panels. Carmen had reach the entrance to the control room, Simpson darted on passed her almost knocking her over in the process,

Carmen turned to Logan and the other two and watched as they fought hopelessly against the beast,

"Come on," she yelled,

Blake, Logan and Karla didn't need to be told twice, they turned and ran with the creature in close pursuit.

Simpson rushed into the control room and was met by the sight of Avon's gun, Roxy gave a sigh of relief as Avon lowered his gun,

"You fool Simpson I could have killed you," Avon snapped,

"Perhaps you should have," Simpson said hysterically,

Avon grabbed him firmly, but before he could ask Simpson what he had meant by that Carmen rushed in, Avon let go of the shaking engineer and aimed his gun at her,

"Who are you?" Roxy asked,

"The least of your problems," Carmen replied quickly as she ran to the control station,

"Great it's working,"

"Thanks to me and Avon," Roxy stated,

"I'll thank you later."

Carmen began to hammer at one of the keyboards,

"What are you doing?" Avon asked, he kept his gun trained on the woman,

"If you want to shoot me go ahead, if not stop pointing that gun at me," Carmen snapped as she continued with hammering the keyboard,

"You didn't answer my question," Avon pointed out,

Before Carmen could answer, Karla ran in followed close behind by Blake and Logan, a roar sounded behind them, In unison, Blake, Karla and Logan turned and let go of a heavy volley of plasma.

"Close the door," Blake ordered,

Carmen was still working at the control station, Roxy watched her, Carmen's hands were shaking,

"Damn it," Carmen said under her breath,

Blake, Karla, Logan and now Avon formed a line just inside the door, they all fired on the creature that continued to advance,

"Come on Carmen close the door," Logan shouted as the creature began to run,

It was almost as if the creature knew that they were having problems and decided to make its attack.

"I'm trying," Carmen replied, hysteria rose in her voice,

"It's not working," she cursed as she thumped the keyboard,

She quickly turned her head to Roxy and glared at her,

"Some job you done,"

Roxy looked away from her, she saw that even Simpson had joined in on shooting at the creature, she could now see the creature and it looked horrifying.

"Let's get outta here," Roxy shouted,

"A great idea," Simpson agreed,

"Let's go to the silo," Blake ordered, he knew that standing their ground was hopeless, he had never seen anything like this creature, it was relentless, with every challenge Blake had confronted before he had never thought of anything being invincible, he knew at this moment that this creature was.

"I'll lead the way," Logan shouted,

"Follow me,"

Kerr Logan ran out, followed my Simpson and Roxy,

"Go Karla," Blake ordered,

Karla turned and ran for it, she had noticed that Avon had already gone, Blake took a quick glance over his shoulder to see Carmen still hammering at the keyboard, she was becoming more hysterical as Blake ran to her side,

"Come on," he said,

She ignored him, Blake grabbed her by her arm and Carmen glared at him as he shouted,

"Now."

Blake turned to leave, at that moment the creature stormed into the room, Carmen turned around and screamed. Blake and Carmen prepared to fire on it but with speed that Blake thought was impossible the creature lunged at them, it struck Blake across his face with the outside of its hand whilst grabbing Carmen by the throat with the other, Blake collapsed to the floor unconscious. The creature lifted Carmen off the floor, her feet kicked wildly at it as she tried to prise the creatures large fingers apart, it was like a vice, she watched the creature, its eyes were black and empty, its tongue flickered, a very slight hiss passed its scaly lips, Carmen fought hard against it but it was hopeless as its grip tightened. Carmen groaned, she wanted to scream, to shout at the creature, to let it know that she still defied it, but she couldn't, her head throbbed as her blood supply was cut off, Carmen felt light headed, her strength drained, her eyes bulged, the last thing she saw was the cold dark eyes of the beast before her neck cracked under the intense pressure. The body of Carmen Maximus hung limp in the creatures hand, after a short while it tossed her body to one side and turned its attention to Blake, it studied him, Blake wasn't moving, it extended a talon and prodded Blake with it but Blake did not respond. The reptilian then turned its attention down the corridor where the others had ran through, it gave out a loud roar before making its way out of the control room.

Logan, Roxy, Karla and Simpson rushed into the silo, they took firing positions on both sides of the door, the four of them were gasping for breath.

"I thought you said it was safe here?" Roxy yelled at Logan,

"It was, how was I supposed to know there would be a savage killing creature wandering around here?" Logan retorted,

"Quiet," Karla yelled,

"Where's Blake and Carmen?" She asked,

Logan looked around the door and shouted,

"Blake, Carmen, hurry up," he heard movement,

"It sounds as if they are on their way," Logan said as he smiled at Karla.

He looked back down the corridor, the others watched as his smile faded and sank into the look of dread, the creature rounded the corner and turned into the passage way that lead straight to them and it now looked straight at him,

"What is it?" Simpson asked,

"It's not Blake or Carmen," Logan said in a tone that told the others what was now approaching.

The creature charged though the door, before Simpson could move it stuck out, hitting him in the side of his face and knocking him out. Logan and Karla began to open fire on it but as before it had no effect, suddenly Roxy had an idea and she reached to her belt and unclipped her sabre,

"What the hell is that?" Logan asked,

"My sabre," Roxy said as she extended the blade,

If it was something that had the possibility of killing the creature, Roxy was going to give it a try, the creature ran at Karla who tried in vain to protect herself but she was too overwhelmed by its strength and soon she was like Simpson, out cold and lying on the floor. The creature then turned to Logan who was still firing on it, Logan took a deep breath,

"Well Logan, you have always wanted to die, here's your chance," he said as he tossed his gun aside, 

The creature seemed to look at Logan with some amusement, Logan drew on all of his concentration and summoned all of his inner strength, he felt a warm glow come from within, just as the creature darted in his direction,

"Time to die," Logan said under his breath as he dived into the advancing creature,

They came together with a loud thud, Roxy watched as they fought each other, every time the creature made an attack it missed its target, Logan shoulder charged it sending it staggering backwards, it seemed surprised but quickly regained its composure, it attacked again, this time with talons out, it slashed out to the left, then right but still it missed Logan, who was ducking and diving out of its way and occasionally going into the attack himself. Roxy watched with intense fascination, she had never seen any man who could move so fast and with such accuracy, every attack Logan made was successful, Roxy then remembered the sabre she was holding on to with sweaty hands, she took a deep breathe and when the creatures back was turned to her she went on the attack with the sabre raised high above her head. The creature managed to get through Logan's defence and struck him hard across his chest, Logan fell backwards gasping for air, he held his chest which had been cut by all three talons, he looked up at the creature as it towered over him, it raised its hand to finish Logan off when it heard running footsteps behind it, the creature spun around as Roxy was just inside attacking distance, she gave out an almost inhuman battle cry, she was fast but the creature was faster, it struck her hard with a back hand strike, the force was enough to send the little woman flying, she must have flown about fifteen meters before hitting the cold, hard silo floor, she screamed out loud and curled up into a ball and cried, she had never been hit so hard before in her life. Logan saw where the sabre had landed, it was only three meters away, beyond the sabre Logan could see Karla, she was looking right back at him, she couldn't move, Karla was sure that her leg was broken, every time she tried to move it sent an uncomfortable pain up her leg and into her hips, she was helpless and only two meters away from Roxy's sabre. Karla watched as the creature turned back to Logan, as the creature raised its hand to strike Logan reached out his hand, not to protect himself but to grab the sabre. Karla watched, he could never reach it, it was impossible, suddenly the sabre began to vibrate, and to Karla's astonishment the sabre shot across the silo floor and into Logan's waiting hand, with one fluid movement Logan took a firm hold of the sabre and struck the creatures mid section, it bellowed out in pain, it reached down to its stomach as Logan struck again, the creature roared and staggered left and then right before crashing onto the floor, almost landing on top of Logan in the process, the creature gave out its final breath as its life slipped away. Logan looked towards Karla, both where exhausted, Karla wore the look of total surprise, she had never seen telekinesis used before, she had heard that some Auron's used to have it but she hadn't known of any human to have it, she would never of believed it had see not seen it for herself.

“There is always a way out, no matter how many times you’ve thrown yourself at danger, there is always a way out,” Logan groaned with a resigned tone as he studied the shiny silver blade in his hand,

“This is one hell of a weapon.” He added with exhaustion.

Karla felt as if she had one of the creatures in her head wanting to get out as she once again failed to get up. After a moment of silence Kerr Avon walked in, propping up a shell shocked John Blake,

"Where the hell did you go?" Karla shouted, it hurt to shout but it didn't stop her from venting her feelings,

"You coward," she added,

"Someone had to be fit enough to clear up this mess," Avon replied as he looked around the silo, he saw a barrel standing by a wall of what appeared to be a service office, he guided Blake to the barrel and helped him to sit down. Blake looked at the body of the creature, in all his pain he couldn't avoid smiling.

Carl Simpson worked solidly on the interior walls of the base, using a trough he coated all of the damaged surfaces in a metallic polymer that filled the groups of three serration's, he wiped his forehead as Roxy walked towards him, he smiled at her and she returned his smile with one of her own. Simpson watched the little blonde woman as she walked passed, he couldn't resist looking over her body, she was a very fit looking woman whose clothing did nothing to enhance the figure that she obviously had, as she disappeared around a corner Carl let out a soft sigh,

"What I could do with a woman like that."

He smiled before returning to his job, occasionally looking down the corridor in a hope of seeing Roxy again.

"What are you looking out for?"

Simpson turned around to see Blake standing behind him,

"Nothing," he replied innocently,

Blake smiled, he had seen Simpson's response to Roxy walking passed, it wasn't too difficult to work out,

"I was wondering if you would like a break from you work and come to the shooting gallery with me for more training?" Blake asked,

"Sure Blake," Simpson answered as he set his trough down on the floor beside the tin of metallic polymer,

"Come on then," Blake said as he gestured down the corridor.

The two men walked through the corridor, passing Roxy who was working with a soldering iron, attaching two strands of severed cable together,

"Roxy, do you want to join us in training in the gallery?" Blake asked the blonde woman,

Roxy turned and saw Simpson standing by Blake's side,

"No thank you, I've got a lot of work to do, there is no time like the present to get it completed," Roxy replied as she turned back to the work she was doing,

"Come on Roxy, you're not going to learn how to protect yourself when you insist in working on electrical systems," Simpson said encouragingly, he wanted her to join him,

"No thanks," Roxy answered,

Blake nodded and began to walk down the corridor, Simpson followed him as Blake called out,

"If you change your mind Roxy you know where we are,"

Roxy nodded but continued working as Karla Ford stepped behind her,

"Don't you ever have a rest?" She asked Roxy,

"Not when there is work to do," Roxy said firmly, she didn't like all of these interruptions, she had work to do, work that only she felt she could do properly,

"You have got to learn how to live a little Roxy, this is not a pleasant world that you have been plunged into but it doesn't mean that you cannot have some fun from time to time," Karla said thoughtfully,

"At the moment this job is more important so let me get on with it," Roxy snapped firmly,

"I'm sorry I spoke," Karla said as she headed towards the control room where Kerr Avon was working,

"You don't know where Logan is do you?" Karla asked as she came to a stop and turned around,

"No, I don't and I couldn't care less about him, or anyone else at that matter," Roxy snapped, sounding annoyed,

"Fine."

Karla turned and walked down the corridor, she disappeared around the corner as Roxy stopped working and looked in the other woman's direction,

"What fun can you have when you are surrounded with murders, idealists and cold, arrogant bastards?" She asked herself before turning back to her work.

Roxy suddenly felt a chill, she turned and saw Kerr Logan walking through the passageway towards the control room, he ignored her as her eyes followed him, she shuddered as he disappeared into the control room, Logan was more scary than Avon, he had threatened to kill her twice, both times she had expected the death blow, but so far it hadn't fallen, Logan was so cold, so inhuman, he rarely made any display of emotion, Roxy let out a shaky breath, she hadn't even known that she had been holding it in, she turned back to her work and continued with it. 

Two weeks later, the clearing up of Domserrat base had been completed, Carl Simpson had used his civil engineering skills to repair all of the corridors and rooms, Roxy Davis had restored all of the electrical systems, Kerr Avon and Orac had rebooted all computer systems, Kerr Logan buried his friends outside the base on a hill top and had cremated the body of the creature. Still no one knew where the creature had come from and they didn't really care, Karla Ford had organised supplies while John Blake arranged each job and helped out in any way he could.

In the aftermath of the creatures attack, Kerr Logan issued Blake and the others locking key cards and allocated a room for each of them. In one of these rooms Roxy was sat on her new bunk, removing the contents of her red bag, placing her spare clothes on the bunk so as to see what see had, which was nothing more than a couple of tunics, leggings and two jump-suits with a small amount of under garments. Seeing what she owned Roxy let out a long resigned sigh,

“Is this all I am?”

“If only you base your life on material things?”

Roxy glanced to her door to see Karla looking in on her,

“I am not that shallow,” she snapped,

“That was not what I was thinking,” Karla said as she stepped onto the room,

“You don’t mind?” She asked,

“Mind what?”

“Me coming in,”

“No, I could do with the company,”

Karla noticed the resigned tone in the blondes voice.

“What is wrong?”

“This situation, with what happen on Gauda Prime and being here, my life’s in ruins,” Roxy explained sadly,

“It doesn’t have to be, it depends on what you make of this turn of events,” Karla said in her most soothing tone,

“Like what? What the fakk can I make of this?” Roxy snapped as she jumped to her feet and walked to her rooms window, it wasn’t much of a view, all she could see was the off white side on the landing silo

“I know things will be hard at first, that is to be expected, I once was in your situation, I did not want to get involved but unfortunately these things happen,” Karla counselled,

“I am not ready for this. Just look at what happened in that room on Gauda Prime

I panicked, I was scared stiff and I lost it.” Roxy countered with tears forming in her eyes,

“True, but when that creature attacked us you tried to fight back,”

“What good that did?” Roxy scoffed,

“You gave us the means to destroy that thing,” Karla said as she reached to the sabre handle that was sat on the bed side cabinet,

“How did you get this passed Federation security?” She asked as she studied the silver embossed handle,

Roxy smirked as she turned to face the brunette, she gently took the sabre from Karla held it by its base,

“A guardsman did take a look at it and asked me what it was, I just snatched it

back from him and said that surely a condemned woman’s got to have a pleasure in life,”

Karla suddenly burst out laughing,

“They thought it was a sex toy?”

“Looks like one, and it isn’t as if he would seen one of these before,” Roxy said blushing,

“You’re a braver woman than I,”

“I don’t think so,” Roxy disagreed,

“Well, we will see,” Karla said with a smile as she turned and walked to the door.

“Remember, Logan has said that we can go to his store room later to see if there is anything we would want or need,” Karla called out over her shoulder before disappearing out of sight,

“I won’t,” Roxy said softly as she looked at the sabre,

“I doubt I’ll find anything though, unless he has a good stock of new lives.”

Blake and Karla met in the main passage way between the living quarters and the recreation room, Blake smiled fondly,

“Are you okay?” He asked,

“Not bad, just been talking to Roxy,”

Blake nodded before talking a deep breathe,

“So, what do you make of our new friends?” He asked,

“Friends, that’s a bit much, we do not even know these people yet?” Karla replied,

“We must start in the right frame of mind, we cannot always assume that people will do the wrong thing by us. Do you think that this group has any potential?”

“Avon will fight, he has been stuck in a prison for the last seven years and has made his intention of fighting the Federation very clear, I would not trust him though,” Karla reported,

“What of Simpson?”

“A possibility, no more. He seems to have kept his head, but there is something about him I am not sure about. Logan is not in this for the fight, he does not seem to care for anything or anyone, he’s good in a fight and he has proved that but what worries me is he has no loyalties. I think he is dangerous, especially with what I told you about with telekinesis and the way he seems to heal so quickly, there is too many things that I don’t like about him. Roxy is something different, I do see potential in her, she just needs to see it in herself, she is a good person in a bad world who did not deserve this, but something tells me she is a survivor and could be trusted,” Karla added know that Blake was going to ask her about all of the people that they were now with.

Blake nodded with approval,

“That was what I was thinking, it is good to see that we are on the same page,”

“Could be that we have spent too much time together,” Karla laughed as they entered the recreation area.

Sat on one of the many chairs in the open planned recreation room was Kerr Avon, who was reading a circuit board green print as Carl Simpson was drinking a glass of wine, a reward to himself for all his recent hard work, he turned to the door as Blake and Karla entered,

“What are we going to do now?” He asked, filling his glass for the third time,

“That is obvious isn’t it?” Kerr Logan said as he entered the room from the silo entrance passage way,

“Is it?” Simpson asked as Avon gave him a wary glance,

“It is isn’t it Blake?” Logan said dryly,

“I think the seven of us could stand a chance,” Blake said as he walked over to Logan,

“You must be joking?” Logan answered, knowing that Blake wanted to fight the Federation and use his base as his headquarters,

“Seven of us?” Simpson enquired before downing another mouthful of wine and filling the glass again,

“Six surely?” He added,

“I’m including Orac,” Blake said with a smile,

“You are not including that machine as part of the crew?” Logan protested coldly as he pointed at the flashing box of lights.

Kerr Avon smiled, he remembered when he had said those exact words to Roj Blake in reference to the Liberator flight computer Zen, he realised the similarities between Blake’s seven and this new group he was a part of. Avon stood up and headed out of the room towards the living quarters,

“Where are you going?” Karla asked,

“I do not think that I have to ask your permission before going anywhere or doing anything, but if you must know I am going to get some rest, I guess that we are going to need as mush rest as we can get if we are to take on the responsibility of the legacy of Roj Blake,” he said.

Everyone watched Kerr Avon leave and then they all turned to John Blake, who looked at them all in turn before smiling broadly. 

Legacy Of Roj Blake

Chapter Three

Act Of Betrayal

The word of John Blake's involvement on Gauda Prime has circulated around the colonised worlds, small uprisings had began to sweep across the galaxy as word of the Freedom and its crew spread. The rebellion had been inspired.

The Federation have placed a huge price on Blake's head and the return of its new pursuit vessel, as they set up operations to find Blake and the Freedom. Deep in sector six, one such operation is beginning to unfold...

At the end of the year sixty five, within the busy offices of justice a young defence advocate stormed out of court room twelve and into the bustling main corridor, he turned angrily at his younger legal assistant.

“How could this happen?” He asked, waving his arms around in fury,

“This is the ninth case that should have ended in an acquittal, they had no evidence to lead to a guilty charge,” he furiously added,

“Calm down Nathen, we know that we can’t win them all,” the younger man said worriedly, he knew what Nathen Blaketon was like, he never liked losing especially during this run of bad luck he was having at the moment.

“It’s fixed,” Blaketon said as he looked around the busy corridor,

“I have been having my suspicions lately but this is certainly enforcing my belief,” Blaketon snapped as he marched down the corridor towards the far stairway,

“You’ve got to be careful about accusations like that, especially aloud in this building, you know the people in charge don’t like being questioned,” Kerrie, the younger legal assist stated quietly, trying to calm Blaketon’s rage,

“And stand by and watch as our freedom’s are taken away from us?” Blaketon asked as he reached the door leading out to the stairs.

He turned to Kerrie, eyes flashing with anger,

“I cannot do that, this is corruption, I’m going to speak to the Advocate General,” he said as he opened the door,

“Advocate Danay wont want to listen to these kind of accusation without proof,” Kerrie stated as he grabbed Blaketon’s arm,

Nathen Blaketon sharply looked at Kerries hand,

“If you are willing to let this go on then you are as guilty as them,” he snapped, prodding Kerrie in the chest with his finger.

Blaketon quickly turned and walked into the stair well, leaving Kerrie despairingly looking at the closing door. Once the door closed and Blaketon was marching up the stairs Kerrie reached into his pocket and pulled out a communicator,

“This is Kerrie, Blaketon is on his way.” 

Blaketon reached the top of the stairs and rushed into the main offices passageway, which lead to the offices of the higher echelons of the judicial system, he saw Advocate General Danay standing outside his office door, talking to an assistant. When he noticed Blaketon her ushered his assistant aside and smiled at the defence advocate,

“Nathen Blaketon, how can I help you?” The older, grey haired man asked as he gestured to Blaketon to enter his office,

“I have concerns that the justice system is corrupt, and I have evidence of this,” Blaketon said forcefully,

“Well, we should discuss this in private,” Danay said as he opened his office door.

Once Blaketon entered the office her found it was full of Federation guardsman,

“I cannot have a snooty little advocate declaring the legal system corrupt, especially with all the hard work we have done to maintain the illusion of fairness,” Danay snapped as he pointed to the Federation squad leader,

“Take him away, and do it quietly, I do not want anyone noticing,” he ordered.

Blaketon was wide eyed and in shock, he knew that the judicial system was corrupt but this confirmed that the corruption was wider spread, he had hoped to talk with the Advocate General Lord Danay and find an ally but now he couldn’t believe that he could have been so naïve.

Ten years later the peace of space was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of three Federation warships as they came out of time distort, two of the warships were standard Federation pursuit ships, they flew behind the larger wedge shaped cruiser that was the Phoenix class command ship of the elite forces, the pursuit ships took up flanking positions as the command cruiser moved into the orbit of the planet Septer Prime.

Cory Williams strode out of her quarters and headed to the Phoenix class command ships control deck, she was dressed in the full black garb of a Federation Space Captain, her uniform was a perfect fit, although she disliked wearing it she knew it was part and parcel of being the executive officer of the Federation elite forces. She strode with commanding assurance, she was used to having a little power and had a reputation of being the best officer in the military, some would even say that she was now first in line in taking the Supreme Commanders position, that in itself was unheard of as elite forces members could not become the Supreme Commander, it had never happened before however Cory was tipped to being the first. She headed towards the command deck and as she did, all officers saluted her, some even stopped what they were doing to stand to attention, Cory Williams returned all gestures with a firm nod of the head. She stepped inside a lift and typed her entry code into a small keypad which then allowed her to go to the command deck. 

The command deck was circular in shape with an observation balcony that surrounded the main control deck, the flight controllers worked in an open planned pit at the centre that in turn surrounded the six lift shafts that were the only access onto the deck. Cory Williams felt the handrail as she walked around the observation level and looked out of the armour glass view ports. A female officer with bright scarlet hair and glowing blue eyes passed by her, Cory's eyes followed the officer, looking over her wonderfully curves. Most people would think that the hair had been dyed scarlet but Cory knew differently, the officers name was Maxin Fox, a woman born and bred on the red planet of Saurian Major which accounted for her natural red hair. She looked good in a uniform, Maxin smiled at her and Cory smiled in return,

"I'll have my way with you later, I think," Cory said as her blue eyes continued to follow her.

The female officer headed down a set of steps and vanished out of sight, Cory let out a quiet sigh and looked out of the view ports. Outside everything was quiet enough. She turned back into the command deck, below her the flight crews tended to their duties, Cory smiled as she watched them work before she leaned both hands onto the hand rail and called out,

"Status,"

The flight commander straightened to gave his report,

"We are now in orbit over Septer Prime, ma'am, all systems report green."

Cory walked to a set of steps and climbed down onto the command deck, she checked the area of the flight deck where Maxin Fox had gone, Cory could see her, she was a very beautiful young woman, they looked at each other approvingly, it was a little gesture that had to be hidden, relationships like theirs was considered unnatural by the Federation military, if anyone found out both Cory and Maxin could lose their commissions and their freedom.

"Have my shuttle prepared," Cory ordered as she cleared Maxin out of her head, she was too much of a distraction.

Captain Williams headed to the lift shafts as the flight commander marched to join her,

"Do you mean that you are going personally Captain?" He asked,

Cory stopped and turned to him, she gently stroked the braid of her dark hair that she wore in a plat,

"Yes flight commander, I was ordered by Supreme Commander Nixon to deal with Terrlow personally so that is what I will do,"

"I will arrange an escort for you," the flight commander said,

"Very well," Cory replied before setting off on her way,

Cory Williams entered the hanger of the command ship, waiting for her was a squad of twelve elite shock troops.

"Attention," the section leader ordered as Cory approached.

With military precision, the shock troops formed a perfectly straight line, Cory smiled, like Nixon she had pride in the Federation and she expected all other officers to have that same pride too, especially those who were under her command. Cory stood before them with her hands behind her back, she studied all of the troopers making sure that they were well turned out and that their helmets and boots were polished, each one met with her high standards. It was time for the briefing,

"We will be visiting this man named Val Terrlow, we will be there to convince him into helping us in capturing John Blake and his ship the Freedom, we have the full authority of Supreme Commander Jack Nixon to pursue any means necessary. Your orders are simple, you are to protect me with extreme intensity, anyone that you feel is a threat you have my authority to eliminate them." 

Cory then nodded to the section leader who immediately clapped his hands together and shouted,

"Okay troops fall into the transport, now!"

Without any further delay the squad of elite shock troops turned to their left, stamped their right foot on the floor in perfect timing and marched into the awaiting transport, Cory nodded with approval,

"You train your men well section leader Drayson,"

"Thank you ma'am," Miles Drayson replied with a smile,

"Supreme Commander Nixon would be quite proud of you and your men," Cory said as she walked with the section leader to the transport,

"As with me, Nixon hand picked them himself Captain," Miles Drayson stated,

Cory Williams nodded,

"One more thing section leader, if this Terrlow causes us any problems I want you to kill him for me," she ordered,

"Ma'am?" He gave her an inquisitive look,

"If Terrlow works with us and betrays Blake, I'm sure that he wouldn't think twice before betraying us," Cory pointed out,

"Yes ma'am," the section leader replied with a smile.

Set upon the highest hill top of Septer Primes one and only continent, stood the ancient castle of the Norous dynasty, it was the largest construction on the planet, it was constructed from huge and heavy boulders of cream and grey/green, all held together with weathered mortar and heavy oak framework that crossed the four outer walls of the castle and were pinned together by large treated steel rivets, on each corner of the castle stood a squared tower that was one hundred feet taller than the six hundred and fifty foot high walls, perched upon each tower stood a small but powerful gun emplacement which had been the only recent addition to the one thousand nine hundred year old building.

Within the castle in the north side was the study, it was a large room in itself, thirty feet by fifty feet in size and twenty feet in height, along the outer wall were three arched windows with heavy oak frames, each surrounded by heavy crimson curtains. On the west wall was a coat of arms which consisted of an oval shield and some scrolled lettering of ancient Norous text that backed onto two crossed lochaber axes, set under the coat of arms was an ornate fire place in which freshly cut wood was burning. Along the ceiling hung three gold and diamond chandeliers, the other two walls were decorated with gold-framed oil paintings of long since dead Norous kings and queens. At the foot of the walls were filing cabinets and packed bookshelves, at the centre of the study placed on a colourful ancient rug was a heavy old oak table. Sat at the table was a gaunt man in his early forties who had long greasy black hair that was parted at the centre, his eyes were narrow and bright blue, he wore a big dark red robe with gold trim which hid his thin stature. He was reading from a monitor that was placed on the right hand side of his table, over the last few months rebellions had sprung up on most of the neighbouring worlds, Val Terrlow was worried that it might happen on Septer Prime,

"No," he said to himself,

"There is nothing here to fight for," he added as he tried to suppress his fears,

“You reading the news again?” A young blonde woman who was dressed in a grey and silver dress said with warmth,

“Always good to keep in touch with galactic affairs my dear,” he said with fondness too his young wife Rita,

“You always try and hide it but I know you wish to get back involved with the rebellion,” she said with a wicked flash of her dark brown eyes,

“Why would I need to be involved? I have you and this lovely castle and more money than I can spend,” he said as he grabbed his wife and pulled her onto his lap,

“I’ve got work to do,” she cried playfully as she hit him on the chest,

“When we meet it was the calling I was waiting for. Why would I want to go back?” Terrlow asked before giving Rita a long and deep kiss.

Nathen Blaketon was being lead out of the offices of justice via the underground transport park, a large plain black transport was waiting, with two Federation guardsman standing either side of an open door, Blaketon was being lead to the waiting vehicle when suddenly a concussion grenade exploded, the guards covered their ears in pain, Blaketon staggered back, his ears ringing and eyes streaming, holding on the to side of his head, trying in vain to protect his damaged hearing, he felt a hand grab him and drag him away from the recovering guards and into another transport. Before Blaketon knew what had happened the transport drove out of the parking facility and left onto the main street, quickly it slipped into a side road and continued on its journey for another three miles before disappearing into an awaiting garage. By the time Blaketon was ushered out of the transport and lead into a small room he had recovered from the grenade, he was stood in the centre of the sparsely lit room, surrounded by no one her knew, there must have been nine people present, all wearing clothes of the various class systems, one man Blaketon noticed was a tall, thin man with long black hair, his narrow eyes were fixed on Blaketon as the leader of the group, a short man with silver hair stepped forward and made his presence known,

“Don’t be alarmed, we only found out about your confrontation with Lord Danay a few moments ago,” he said with softly spoken words,

“Alarmed, I was close to being in a Federation prison, then I’m dragged off by people unknown to a secret location, should I not be alarmed?” Blaketon protested,

“What the hell is going on?” He demanded,

“He has spirit,” Blaketon heard one woman say from over his left shoulder,

“We have been monitoring you, and the reports you have made on the administration justice system. Once we heard you were going to confront Danay we had to act.”

Blaketon scanned the room and was shocked to see Kerrie standing by the door he had been escorted through,

“You?” He ask,

“I warned you not to approach Danay,” he said with a smile,

“I had to help,” he added,

“You are a terrorist?” Blaketon asked,

“Freedom fighter, as you are aware the Federation is rife with corruption, no one would have listened to you. The Federation would have imprisoned you and killed you if you continued to speak out against them.” Kerrie stated bluntly,

“You may have thought you could help against the corruption by staying within the organisation, but with passed experience I know that never works, being outside the administration is the best place from where you can act,” the group leader said as he took Blaketon’s arm.

“How can I act, I am a criminal of the state, after what you did they will be looking for me, the Federation is a huge organisation, how can I act against that? Blaketon asked,

“I am only a defence advocate, it is all I know,” he added,

“We can change that, by the time we have finished you can be trained, your identity changed, they will never find you because Nathen Blaketon will not exist.” The silver haired man said with warm assurance.

“But why me?”

“From what we have witnessed, you have potential,” The leader said softly,

“For what?” Blaketon asked,

“Leadership.” The tall dark haired man said with certainty,

“Excuse me?” Blaketon couldn’t believe his ears,

“Blaketon, this is Val Terrlow, he will work with you and help you through this transition,”

“What if I say no?” Blaketon protested,

“The door is there,” the leader said as he pointed at the door where Kerrie was still standing,

“But you will be on your own and you will be captured, with us you have a chance, a fighting chance,” Val Terrlow said as he put an arm around Blaketon’s shoulders.

Blaketon took a deep breath, he looked around the room, at the unknown faces that seemed to know him more than he found comfortable, he turned to the one face he knew, Kerrie, who nodded with agreement, hoping to tell him that everything was going to be okay,

“What type of training?” He asked,

Val Terrlow smiled and patted Blaketon on the chest,

“Anything that is useful and within your abilities, but you will be pushed, we will find your limits, as you find what you a capable of.”

“Identity?” Blaketon asked,

“Oh yes, I have a profile that is perfect for you, one that you will find as natural as your own,” Val said with comforting warmth,

“Really?”

“Yes, you will not be known as Nathen Blaketon from now on……” Val announced as he looked around at his colleagues before continuing,

“As of today you will be known as John Blake.”

The great hall within the old castle suddenly filled with black uniformed men from Captain Cory Williams strike team, Val and Rita Terrlow were startled by the sudden intrusion,

“What is the meaning of this?” Terrlow demanded,

Cory marching in and pointed to one of her soldiers, quickly her finger was pointed at Rita and with great speed the trooper grabbed the young woman and pulled her away from Terrlow,

“Who the hell are you?” Rita demanded,”

"Captain Cory Williams of the Federation elite forces,” she announced proudly

the troopers scanned the room as Captain Cory stepped in front of Terrlow and looked down at him, the slim man did not stand, he was too shocked to do so, he knew her name, Terrlow had heard it mentioned frequently along with her reputation. Cory sensed his fear and smiled.

“This castle is bound to have a dungeon, take this woman down there and keep an eye on her,” Cory ordered as she looked Rita up and down,

“You can’t do this,” Terrlow protested as his wife was dragged off,

“I can do what I want, but you do have a bearing on her safety,” Cory snapped,

“How?” Val Terrlow asked,

“You can help me find your old friend,”

“ What friend?”

“John Blake,”

“Never heard of him,” Terrlow stated firmly,

“If you don’t help me your wife will die,” Cory threatened,

Terrlow swallowed hard, he looked into the direction where his wife had gone, with a heavy heart he nodded,

“Good, now I have a plan and you will follow it to the letter, if you warn Blake and if I think you are trying to help him you and your wife will die,” Cory said with an intimidating smile. 

Cory was definitely an intimidating woman, she had power and made full use of it. Terrlow had managed to run this small backwater planet but Cory ran the largest military force in the galaxy, if she wanted to she could destroy Septer Prime with a single command. Terrlow was right to be fearful of her.

"Now this is the plan," Cory Williams said as she pulled out the chair that was opposite Terrlow and sat down.

Later that night, Terrlow was sat reading an old dusty book. It was quiet, all Terrlow could hear was the sound of crackling wood coming from his fireplace. Occasionally he would hear the rustling of the Federation guards that were sat in the corner of the old library, their eyes watching him with evil intent, they had been left behind by Cory to remind him of their deal. He needed to unwind after dealing with Federation Captain, there was no better place to do that than in his library reading a good book even though he was scared to death thinking that his wife was languishing in a prison somewhere, the silence was interrupted by the sound of heavy boots squeaking on the well polished floor, Terrlow looked up from his book as an officer from Cory’s forces marched towards him, 

"Yes officer?" Val Terrlow asked worriedly.

"Long range detection systems have picked up an unidentified starship approaching,"

Val Terrlow sat back and carefully set his book down, inserting a book mark so he would not to lose his place he cracked his knuckles and then webbed his hands together, resting the back of his head on them.

"Unidentified?" He asked,

"The Freedom" The officer stated.

At that same moment another officer entered the study.

"What now?" Terrlow asked in a resigned tone,

"Sir, we have picked up a transmission, it is coded for your attention only,"

"Right," Terrlow replied, taking a deep breath to try an control his ravaged nerves,

“Now get out,” Terrlow shouted bitterly.

The two Federation officers looked at each other with bemusement at the idea of this little man giving them orders,

“Cory wouldn’t want you to be around when Blake shows up.” Terrlow snapped as a little communication Cory had given him sounded,

“How are things progressing?” It was Cory Williams calling from a small office somewhere in the castle,

"Things are on schedule Captain, the Freedom is already on its approach,"

"Good, keep me informed,"

"Have no fear Captain, all is under control," Terrlow said soothingly, trying to sound more convincing than he felt,

"By the end of this week, John Blake and his crew will be dead and the Freedom will be yours once more," he added reassuringly,

"Better be Terrlow, if things do go wrong it will take more than your little castle to save you and your precious wife. Do I make myself clear?"

"Absolutely."

The communication cut off, Terrlow took a deep breath, he had an ability to see the potential in people, he felt it was wise to fear Cory, she was an ambitious and dangerous woman,

"Sorry Blake old friend, I have no choice."

Kerr Avon was sat leaning forward on the comfy lounger his narrow eyes looked blank, so far no one had asked what had happened on Gauda Prime seven years ago, to this day it still haunted him, that image of Roj Blake, his eyes wide with surprise as he called Avon's name. Avon had shot him three times but still Blake managed to walk to him and take hold of his arms, Avon had surprised even himself as he shot the man that he hoped could lead the rebel alliance, he was surprised even more with the fact that he fired three times, Avon swore he could still hear those shots ringing out, luckily for him the Federation had claimed responsibility for killing Roj Blake but Avon wished that they hadn't, perhaps if they hadn't he may have been able to live with it. Avon had killed many in his life, his old girlfriend Anna Grant had been killed by him, she had betrayed him, sold him out to the Federation during the time that he was attempting to embezzle six hundred million credits from the Federation banking system, he had found that betrayal hard to live with but he still recovered from it, he wondered if her brother Del had found out, Avon sighed, he was now in another group, another seven lead by a Blake. Right now they were on route to the planet Septer Prime, to assist one of Blake's old acquaintances, one named Terrlow. Avon looked up from his daze as Carl Simpson asked,

"You haven't told us much about this Val Terrlow we are meeting,"

John Blake was sat at the detector controls as Simpson took a standing position in front of Blake's console, Blake sat back, crossed his arms and glanced up at the ebony skinned man,

"Terrlow helped me escape the authorities on Earth ten years ago,"

"So you keep saying," Logan said sharply as he operated the Freedoms controls.

"You can trust him," Blake's said informatively,

"I trust no one," Logan coldly replied,

"So I've noticed," Simpson retorted,

"Be careful Simpson," Logan warned,

"Of what?" Simpson asked,

"Of me."

Simpson looked into Logan's cold hazel eyes, it was enough to send a chill down Simpson's spine and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, Simpson still remembered the time when Logan shot an injured prisoner in cold blood back on Gauda Prime, his eyes were as cold then as they were now, although Simpson had never seen Logan with any other kind of look in his eyes. Blake looked at the two men as they eyeballed each other, he decided to defuse the situation,

"When I was on Earth I worked as a legal advocate in the justice system, I defended many criminals with the same result, all were found guilty and imprisoned or executed. I decided to look into the legal system and I discovered a web of corruption that reached to the highest level in the legal establishment, I built up a case file and offered it to my superior,"

"Fool," Logan interrupted,

Blake ignored his pilots comment,

"My superior was also corrupt and reported me to the security forces."

"You were arrested," Simpson said curiously,

"Yes and as I was being taken to a security centre people who were pro change rescued me and helped me get into hiding and introduced me to Val Terrlow, he supplied me with my current name and identity, later he got me transport off of Earth. I didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to."

"So Blake isn't your birth name then?" Roxy asked as she sat at the ship systems control board,

"No Roxy, my birth name was Nathen Blaketon," Blake replied as he turned to face her.

"So you got a new identity from Terrlow. Was that all he did for you?" Logan asked,

Logan's questioning was just as intence as some Federation interrogation officers, some interrogators were more subtle than Logan, with the fact that they were supposedly on the same side made it feel worse. Blake went on,

"He also gave me training so I could be John Blake. I was trained in starship engineering and mechanics, accounting and business strategy, all lessons involved learning how to fight. Being an alpha grade it didn't take too long. Shortly afterwards I got involved with the rebellion against the Federation, gradually, I rose up the ranks of the rebel alliance before taking command of the Gauda Prime units,"

He looked at Logan who was staring back at him,

"All that I got from Val Terrlow. On the odd occasion he helped me out and I helped him out, we have always been good friends," Blake stated firmly.

"All you gained from Terrlow you have lost Blake," Logan pointed out,

"No I haven't Logan. I gained in more ways than you could know," Blake corrected him.

"When was the last time you spoke to Terrlow?" Simpson asked,

Simpson's question sounded like a genuine concern,

"About two years now," Blake replied,

"Let's just hope that he holds the same regard for you that you obviously hold for him," Logan stated bluntly,

"He will," Blake said with a smile and a nod, hopefully he will was more to the point, Logan's questions had suddenly made him feel doubtful, of course Terrlow was his friend, how could Blake doubt it? As Blake took a deep breath Karla walked in and sat beside Avon who was quietly reading a data pad on Septer Prime.

"Interesting reading?" She asked,

"Not really," Avon replied dryly.

Simpson sighed as he took the communication position, he still wasn't happy with long space flights, it bored him,

"How much longer will we be in this crate?" He asked despondently,

Logan smiled, he knew that Simpson hated all this flying, the former civil engineers petty wining was sometimes amusing,

"About another hour and a half, Earth hours that is."

"Well I'm not going to enjoy the journey back to base," Carl Simpson grumbled,

"If we do get back," Logan replied coldly as he turned to Blake.

"You still don't trust me do you Logan?"

"There is no doubt about that Blake, the time I do trust you is the time I stab myself in the back,"

"Just keep watching your back then," Blake suggested,

"You should be doing that," the pilot retorted, that was a warning to Blake, one that Blake was to take seriously.

Terrlow walked out of his study and into an arched stone passage way, it was cooler in the passage than it was in his study but it was always like that, every passage in the castle was the same, joining every room and forming an elaborate maze. Terrlow tucked his hands into the big pockets of the dark red and grey robe that he wore as a Federation officer joined him.

"The Freedom has entered orbit, they are requesting a bearing for teleport,"

Terrlow stopped and smiled, 

"A directional teleport," he said to himself,

"So Blake has worked out how to alter the teleport that originally was built within the ship, impressive, it must have been done using Orac," he murmured,

Terrlow turned to the officer who was still with him,

"Send them the co-ordinance to the court yard and give him my thanks," Terrlow said with regret, he always wanted to catch up with Blake but not like this.

Simpson listened to the reply through an earpiece, he nodded and acknowledged.

"Well Simpson?" Blake asked,

"Co-ordinance are: Three nine five point seven three," he replied,

"Got that Avon?" Blake asked as he turned to the older man,

"On my way," Avon said as he headed out of the flight deck,

"Terrlow also gave you his thanks and looks forward to seeing you again," Simpson added.

Blake smiled as he turned to Logan,

"Still doubtful?"

"I haven't met him yet," Logan answered,

"What are we actually going to be doing down there?" Roxy asked,

"Terrlow has asked the assistance of someone with current electronic technical systems and someone who can test a new stardrive system that he has been working on over the last year, he also wants us to transport a package to the planet Destiny."

"So, Roxy and you will be staying on Septer Prime as I transport the package," Logan said as he crossed his arms and smiled,

"No Logan, you and Roxy will stay on Septer Prime, I will be doing the transporting," Blake stated firmly,

"Why?" Logan questioned,

"You know more about stardrives than I do, you have greater experience, you know what you can get out of a drive, I know that Terrlow will appreciate your opinion," Blake replied,

"Also he doesn't trust anyone else with the package other than me, apparently it is extremely expensive,"

"How expensive?" Roxy asked,

"Just say that you could buy a planet with it," Blake said as he looked around at each member of the group.

All of them looked surprised except Logan, who had the look of greed in his eyes,

"You are joking?" Simpson asked,

"No," Blake said firmly,

"What is the package we are carrying?" Karla asked,

"Terrlow wasn't willing to say over the communications channel,"

"Sounds iffy to me," Logan said bluntly,

Blake looked to Logan and then turned to Roxy,

"Shall we go?"

"Could I come?" Simpson asked,

Blake thought about it,

"I'm not sure,"

"Oh come on Blake I need to get off this ship, you know that I hate being

onboard," the ebony skinned man cried out.

Blake knew all right, Simpson had constantly been on about it since they left Domserrat, he sighed,

"Okay then."

"Yes," Simpson shouted whilst punching the air before rushing out of the flight deck before Blake could change his mind,

"Let's go," Blake said with an amused smile.

Roxy, Blake and Logan followed after Simpson to the teleport room where Avon was waiting.

"Keep your eyes peeled Karla," Blake shouted as Karla Ford took to the detector controls.

Karla Ford smiled, she didn't need to be told, like Logan she wasn't sure about the whole thing.

"All set," Avon announced as he handed out small silver teleport pins that Roxy had built for him back at the base.

The landing party took their positions on the circular raised platform that was the teleport.

"I hope this works," Blake said to Avon with a smile,

Avon looked blankly at Blake, it was obvious that he didn't take too kindly to having his work and expertise doubted,

"Ready when you are," he said.

Blake, Logan, Roxy and Simpson stood ready as Karla walked in, she was interested in seeing the teleport work, Avon stood by the small control board and asked,

"Ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Blake replied.

Avon pulled the control lever and the solid forms of his crewmates broke down into thin air, he checked the sensors and then smiled to Karla,

"It worked."

Karla sighed, she hadn't even noticed that she had been holding her breath.

Blake and his party landed within a spacious open air courtyard that was surrounded by the castles inner buildings, all of the buildings were inter connected by one level high skywalks which were supported on thick stone pillars. Many years ago the Norous would have used the courtyard as the central market place, it now served as a monument of those times. Terrlow had ensured that nothing changed as he preferred it the way it was. Carl Simpson looked around in awe, he had never seen anything like it, it was almost like being in the centre of an ancient town, all the buildings were built with stone and mortar, the window frames and doors were of heavy oak which were held together by iron frames and supported onto the buildings by large iron hinges and the doors were secured by old mortis locks. The feelings Simpson got was sheer adulation, he would never have thought to design something like this and he wouldn't want to, you could never catch the feeling of age and history in any new building, even one copying the castles design.

"Wow," he gasped,

"It does tend to take the breath away, it still does with me,"

Terrlow said to Simpson as he approached the group, he was alone. Blake turned to his old friend and greeted Terrlow's wide smile with his own.

"Good to see you again Blake,"

The two men hugged,

"Yeah, you are looking well." Blake said as he stood back and looked at his friend,

Roxy almost laughed, Terrlow didn't look well at all, he looked ill, frail and weak, he barely fittied into the baggy red and grey robe that he wore, in fact the robe made him look worse, he also looked as if he didn't take much care in himself or his appearance.

"It's all the good living and a healthy diet," Terrlow said as he placed his small hands onto his stomach.

Terrlow looked towards Blake's comrades as Blake introduced them,

"This is Logan...,"

"Ah, it is good to meet you at last, I've heard so much about you, particularly when you defected,"

Kerr Logan simply nodded,

"...This is Roxy...,"

Terrlow's eyes sparkled as he looked her up and down, he approved of the black leather trousers and black sweater that she wore, they gave a tantalising glimpse of her voluptuous figure.

"Blake told me that you were an electronics expert but he didn't tell me how beautiful you were,"

Roxy felt her face become warm, she looked away from his admiring eyes feeling embarrassed,

"...And this is Simpson."

"You show appreciation of my home?" Terrlow asked him,

"I'm amazed, I've been in the building trade for years but I've never seen anything like it, it makes what I have built or designed look very shallow," Simpson said as he looked around at the timeless workmanship,

"When you have time Simpson I'll give you a tour of my home," Terrlow offered,

"Thank you," Simpson said with a smile that was full with glee.

"The rest of you are welcome to join us," he said to the others, his eyes falling onto Roxy again, he smiled at her and she again looked away,

"But first, we will eat, I'm sure that I could set up another dinner place for Simpson here," Terrlow said as he patted Carl Simpson on his shoulder,

"Come," he said, gesturing to the building on the south side.

"First, I'll report back to the Freedom," Blake said,

"Certainly,"

Blake spoke into his teleport pin,

"We are down and safe, next call will be in one hour."

John Blake then turned to Val Terrlow who was speaking to Simpson about the castles great history,

"After you my friend,"

Terrlow smiled,

"Right this way."

Karla Ford returned to the flight deck, Kerr Avon was sat at the flight controls.

"They are down and safe," Karla announced.

Avon smiled, her announcement was just the same as it was when he was on the Liberator after someone teleported, calling in to report their situation was standard procedure. At times the situation with the crew of the Freedom was just the same, he sometimes feared that it could end the same way, he hoped if it did happen he wouldn't be around, that he would be somewhere else.

"Now we just wait," he said dryly.

"What did you used to do in this type of situation when you were onboard the Liberator?" Karla asked,

Avon thought about it,

"If it was not for Vila Restal, I probably would have died with boredom,"

"Vila Restal?"

"He was a thief and a good one, he was also a coward and a fool, his simple mindedness was sometimes refreshing," Avon answered with a smile, he remembered Vila with fondness, more so than the others, probably because of the fact that Vila was with him the longest of all the members of the crews of Liberator and Scorpio, he remembered the way he always would complain or whine about anything that could be dangerous. Vila had once told him that he had bought his delta grade classification to avoid military service, Avon had known that Vila had been born an alpha, he was just too clever not to be but he let Vila carry on with his act. Avon had also found a need of him, they shared the same interests in gaining personnal wealth, strangely he missed him.

Terrlow walked into the dinning hall, he reached out his hands and turned to his guests,

"Here we are."

The dinning hall was much like Terrlow's study, three windows lined the outside wall, on the wall opposite three smaller versions of the coat of arms were hanging and like the rest of the castle, it was built from stone and mortar. In the centre of this room there was a twenty foot long, solid oak table that was surrounded by ornamental chairs, above the table hanging from the solid oak rafters were two gold and diamond chandeliers which gave the room a warm golden glow. Five dinner places had been set.

"Well Simpson, what do you think of my home?" Terrlow asked,

"I am very impressed," Carl Simpson said as he looked around the hall, it was breath taking.

Logan was surprised that Simpson hadn't grazed his chin with the fact that the former civil engineer had been walking around with his jaw dropped since arriving. Kerr Logan scanned the room as Roxy Davis walked up to the table and took one of the places. The dinning hall had three doors, one they had just walked through, one opposite and one to the side that appeared to go into a kitchen.

"Please take your seats," Terrlow said as he gestured to the table.

The group took their seats, Terrlow took the larger chair at the head of the table, he placed a napkin on his lap as two waiters stepped into the room carrying bowls of freshly cooked, piping hot soup. As the bowls were set down in front of Terrlow's guests, Roxy smiled, she took in the warm aroma of the soup,

"Ox soup," she said with a smile,

"I used to make this for myself back at home on G.P."

Roxy tasted it, it was delicious, better than anything that she used to make.

"Please, my chef has been preparing our meal for sometime, let us not offend him by letting it go cold," Terrlow said proudly before beginning his soup.

The meal began, after the soup came the main course, it was roast turkey and vegetables followed by a sweet banoffee pie. All the vegetables were freshly grown and the accompanying white wine was a vintage. The whole meal was very expensive compared to the simulated food that came from standard issue food dispensers.

"That was delicious," Blake said as he wiped the corners of his mouth with his napkin,

"You must enjoy having such a good chef?" Simpson stated,

“I am," Terrlow replied as an officer from Cory’s squad who had disguised himself as a serving attendant walked in,

"I'm sorry to interrupt sir but you have an urgent call,"

"I am sorry Blake but I will have to deal with this," Terrlow said as he climbed out of his chair,

"Please excuse me,"

"Certainly," John Blake said as he rose to his feet.

Terrlow hurried out with the Federation officer.

Terrlow sat back on his chair as the monitor on his antique table lit up, it was Cory Williams.

"I asked for progress reports, why haven't I received any yet?" Cory asked coolly,

"Blake and his friends have arrived, they are here on Septer Prime, just as I said they would be, the man trusts me," Terrlow said with a smile,

"Just make sure that you do not give him any reason not to," Cory warned firmly,

"Blake is the trusting kind remember, I gave him his current identity, he is alive because of me. By the way how is my wife?" Terrlow stated,

"Why? Worried about her?" Cory questioned,

"Should I be?"

"You carry on as you are and we capture Blake, you don’t have to be" Cory suggested with an amused smile,

"Very well, I'll be sending Blake to you shortly," Terrlow conceded, he hated doing this, but he didn’t see that he had a choice.

"Good, I'll call for you later," Cory said before cutting off the communication.

Terrlow wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up, he was shaking nervously as a Federation officer handed him a small box that was at the centre of this plan.

"Don’t even think of letting us down,” the officer stated firmly.

Logan sat back and pushed his glass of wine away.

"I do not know about you but I do not trust him, something is not quite right about him,"

"So far he has been a perfect host," Roxy said as she filled her glass with more wine,

"If I were you Roxy I wouldn't drink anymore, it is clearly effecting your judgement," Logan retorted,

Roxy gave him an evil look, she hated him, she sometimes wished that he was dead,

"Drink all you want Roxy," Simpson put in,

"Sod Logan," he added coming to Roxy's defence.

Simpson turned to Logan,

"Kill joy." he snapped.

Logan just smiled at him, Roxy stood up and walked to the south wall and took a closer look at a coat of arms,

"The decoration in this place is incredible," she said as Simpson stood by her side,

"The whole place is impressive," he said,

"Just think of it Roxy," he said as he moved closer to her,

"You, me and a place like this, it would be paradise I think."

He placed his arm around her, setting his hand gently on Roxy's hip, squeezing gently as he looked down her busty front. Roxy turned sharply to him, she noticed where his eyes were looking and snarled,

"Look me in the eyes when you talk to me, not down my top, and another thing get off me now. "

Simpson looked astonished but Roxy knew his look was false, he slowly removed his arm.

"You do that again and I will use my sabre on you is that clear?" Roxy snapped,

"Just trying to be friendly," Simpson protested,

"You've had too much to drink," Roxy stated,

"If I were you, I would have a good lie down," she added,

Simpson walked away from her.

"Touchy isn't she?" He said to Logan,

"She is out of your league Simpson, take her advice and have a lie down or a cold shower," Logan said with a cold glare.

He looked to Roxy and smiled, she glared back at him, Roxy was angry but she showed more anger than the situation actually required. Logan doubted that Roxy had the will or nerve to use her sabre on him, she wasn't the type to want to hurt anyone deliberately, she was pure and honest, sometimes Logan found her innocence compelling. Blake crossed his arms whilst looking at the others in turn, he hoped that his crew would start growing to like each other, it looked as though it would take longer than he thought. Just then Terrlow returned, he was carrying a small black box, one that was locked by a code key.

"I'm sorry for that," Terrlow said cheerfully,

"That is okay Terrlow," Blake said,

Terrlow set the box carefully onto the table.

"This is what I would like you to transport for me," Terrlow said with a smile,

Logan found his smile unnerving. Blake and Simpson walked to Terrlow and the box.

"What is it?" Blake asked,

"It contains neutrotope for the planet Destiny,"

"Neutrotope?" Simpson asked,

"It is used to keep a particular fungus at bay, I'm not sure what type of fungus, I'm not a gardener but this particular fungus was found to be immune to all crop sprays, you see Destiny is a farming world--,"

"Yes, I know," Logan interrupted,

Terrlow looked to Logan and smiled, again his smile made Logan edgy,

"This is installed on to an orbiting satellite, the suns' rays pass through it and protects all the plant life that it touches, therefore keeping the economy of Destiny going, without their plants and vegetation Destiny would crumble as a society and a planet," Terrlow explained.

"So Roxy and Logan will stay here to work on a project of yours while I ship this to Destiny," Blake said as he picked up the box,

"Yes, just be careful with the neutrotope, it is incredibly sensitive and very expensive, the people of Destiny rely on it, it is their livelihood," Terrlow said firmly.

"Why did you ask us to ship it for you?" Logan asked, he had taken on the tone of an interrogator,

"I could have asked a smuggler to ship it but they are so hard to trust,” Terrlow’s words was a clear attack on Logan,

“However I trust Blake with my life, I know that it will get to Destiny if Blake takes it," Terrlow said with the warmest of smiles, he got the feeling that Logan did not trust him, wise.

"As the neutrotope is urgently required at Destiny we better go now," Blake said to Simpson.

"Thank you Terrlow for the dinner, it was very much appreciated," Blake said as he offered Terrlow his hand, the two men shook hands,

"Anytime Blake, have a safe trip," Terrlow said,

He sounded genuine but still Logan felt that he couldn't trust him.

"We'll see you later," Simpson said,

He didn't really want to go, he hated space flight and Terrlow could see it.

"When you come back, I'll give you the full tour of my home," Terrlow offered,

"I would like that," Simpson replied with a grin.

"Karla, this is Blake, two to teleport," Blake said into his teleport pin.

"See you later," Blake said to Roxy and Logan.

"Stand by Blake,"

Blake and Simpson stood straight, Blake held the shipment. Slowly the solid forms of the two men began to break down and with a crackle of static they were gone, Terrlow smiled,

"Impressive,"

"It isn't a bad way to travel," Roxy said calmly,

"I would like to find out one day," Terrlow said to her,

"I'm sure that it could be arranged," Roxy offered,

"It already has," Terrlow said as he turned to Logan, his tone had changed, the warmth that he had showered his guests with was replaced by an icy cold bite. Suddenly the dinning hall filled with troopers from Cory’s attack force, all of them had their side arms trained on Logan and Roxy. Logan gave the room a quick scan, he guessed that it would be useless to try and fight his way out. Roxy looked stunned, she couldn't believe it, she had trusted Terrlow and he had lied to her, one in a long line of men that had used her.

"Please place your guns on the table," Terrlow said, it was an order.

Logan reluctantly drew his gun and placed it on the table, Roxy simply watched him, if there was one man she thought could get her out of all this it was Logan and he had just surrendered his side arm, Roxy turned to Terrlow,

"You fakking bastard," she shouted as she went for him.

Without hesitation, Terrlow raised his hand and struck Roxy across her face, she fell to the floor, Logan had been surprised by her outburst but not surprised by Terrlow's reaction. Roxy looked up at Terrlow as she wiped blood that dribbled out of the corner of her mouth, for such a gaunt looking man he had incredible strength.

"Fool," Cory said as she marched into the dinning hall,

Logan and Roxy turned to each other, Cory was the last person they expected to see,

“Well Done Terrlow, that wasn’t too bad,” she praised before seeing something reflect the light of off Roxy, it was Roxy's communication and teleport pin.

"One more thing, take off your teleport pins and place them with the gun."

Neither of the two moved.

"NOW," Cory demanded.

Roxy reluctantly got back onto her feet and unclipped her pin, Logan placed his pin by the gun and as Roxy placed hers with it, she looked into Logan's eyes, she expected him to say, I told you so but he didn't, there was no point.

Blake, Simpson and Karla returned to the flight deck, Kerr Avon turned to his comrades,

"Where are we heading now?" He asked,

"To the planet Destiny," Blake announced,

"Destiny?" Avon asked curiously,

"Yes, why?" Simpson enquired as he took his seat,

"Nothing, it is just that I have been there before, that's all," Avon said, he remembered it well, the Liberator had found the Ortega in an astral orbit, its pilot had been killed and the controls damaged forcing it remain in the orbit. Roj Blake had insisted on helping them to transport some very much-needed neutrotope to Destiny. Avon and Cally had stayed behind to help make repairs to the flight guidance controls and computers. Meanwhile a killer was onboard and had killed members of the Ortega's crew, It was Sara, she had hoped to trade the neutrotope to some other planet, but Avon had stopped her and saved the day.

"What are we transporting?" He asked,

"Something called neutrotope," Blake replied,

Avon knew of the urgency,

"We might as well get on our way then."

Roxy and Logan were thrown it a prison cell that was deep within the heart of the castle it was five feet wide by nine feet long, there was one old wooden bunk which was placed against a wall and at the far end of the room there was a small stone seat with a hole cut into it, they both knew what that was for, even if the rotting smell of sewage emanating from it did not give it away. Like everywhere else, the room was built from stone and because of the damp, moss formed along the mortar between the stones, it was cold. They sat together on the bunk, it creaked as it took their weight.

"I don't believe this." Roxy said as she looked around the small room, she squirmed as she saw insects and other crawling creatures scurrying in and out of small holes in the walls,

"Believe it Roxy, it is happening," Logan said firmly.

The last thing he wanted was for Roxy to start crying, he'd had enough of that already.

"I trusted him," Roxy said,

"Then like Blake you are a fool," Logan snapped,

"In war you trust no one, one day you will learn that," he added.

"I haven't been in this long," Roxy countered,

"But I'll never end up like you," she snarled.

"I hope not," Logan replied distantly.

He sat back against the hard wall, it felt cold against his back.

"You haven't been through a quarter of what I have experienced, you have not killed millions of people, I envy you on that," the pilot said sadly.

It was the first time since Roxy had known Logan that she had seen and heard another emotion from him besides cold hosillity, she turned to him as the look of anguish crossed his hard features.

"You haven't killed millions," Roxy said dismissively.

"Oh yes I have," Logan replied, his eyes seemed to focus on nothing as he remembered what had happened. 

Onboard a Federation pursuit ship that was in orbit over the planet Betafarl, the rebellion had driven the Federation forces from the planet and the Federation were on the retreat, Logan gave Supreme Commander Nixon the suggestion to use a solium device to destroy the population, Nixon endorsed the idea and authorised the weapons use. Logan was told to give the order and the solium missile was launched, the whole population of Betafarl were killed and he had ordered it, he found it hard to live with, it was one of the things that made Logan defect.

"How?" Roxy asked,

"I ordered it," Logan replied sombrely,

"In a tactical meeting I suggested the use of a solium missile on the population of Betafarl, it was an off the cuff suggestion, nothing more, I didn’t expect it to be authorised but the rebels were close to victory, Nixon ordered me to do it and I pushed the button. When the missile exploded on the planet surface all six point five million people were murdered by me. Nothing of the people remained, only the buildings were left intact but all life had been destroyed. Since then I have wished I was dead," Logan said sadly,

"That is why you wanted to die back at base when we fought with that creature, and why you covered us so we could escape from the office back on Gauda Prime," Roxy said looking concerned.

"Why not just kill yourself," she snapped,

"I won't die in a futile way, I must have an equal chance."

"In other words you want to die fighting, how very heroic,"

"It would be justice served," he replied coldly.

Roxy looked at Logan, she was worried, she needed someone to be strong for her but she felt that Logan wasn't even going to try. Just then the door lock clunked and the cell door creaked open, two of Cory’s troopers, who were very well built marched in. 

"Cory wants you," one said as he grabbed Roxy's shoulder, she gave Logan a panic stricken look, Logan quickly went for him,

"No," he cried out.

The other trooper punched Logan in his stomach with enough force to take the wind out of him, he groaned and fell to the floor and as he looked up Roxy was being carried out of the cell, kicking and screaming.

"Help me Kerr,"

Logan tried to get up but the trooper knocked him down again,

"Stay down," he ordered before following his comrade out of the cell. 

The cell door closed with a clang and the lock crunched into place. Kerr Logan got up onto his feet and shoulder charged the door, he hit it hard sending an uncomfortable pain reaching up through his arm, he groaned again as he hit the door with the base of his fist in frustration, he could still hear Roxy's screams for help but Logan couldn't help her anymore, she was on her own.

"It's supposed to be me, not her," he shouted.

Roxy was taken to a room, not much larger than the prison cell, Val Terrlow waited by a small control board, by his side was Cory. Opposite them Roxy saw an upright metal platform that had leather strapping, it stood in front of what appeared to be some old electronic circuit system, its wiring and circuit boards were exposed, some were actually hanging off. Under the system Roxy could see a hydraulic jack.

"Put her on," Cory ordered as she gestured to the piece of old looking machinery.

Roxy struggled, but stood no chance against two men that were both twice her size and weight, soon she was strapped down on to the platform, it suddenly dawned on her what she was strapped to, Logan had described one on Gauda Prime, a detector-scanner. Terrlow walked behind the control board looking very sad and worried as Roxy struggled in the harnesses, Cory watched in amusement before placing a signal receptor on her forehead, Roxy spat at her,

"Bitch," she shouted at her.

Cory produced a face wipe from one of her pockets, wiped the spit from her face and then turned to Terrlow without saying a word.

Roxy watched her with angry eyes. Terrlow stood behind the controls, he looked at Roxy with saddened and very apologetic eyes, he flicked a few switches, the detector-scanner began to hum and vibrate, Roxy quickly looked down at the circuit system in front of her, it began to rise, her heart was pounding. She pushed herself up against the platform in a vain effort to get as far away from the circuit system as she could. Roxy gasped for breath, she began to sweat, she was scared. Suddenly Roxy was hit by an intense volley of electrical bolts, she gave out an agonised scream, it felt as though every nerve ending in her body was being stabbed with a red hot poker, her body jolted, shook and tightened, Roxy tried to hold back the pain but to no avail it was impossible, her screams echoed around the room and down the passage ways.

Kerr Logan was sat on the bunk, in the silent cell, he feared what Cory and Terrlow would do to Roxy, he knew she had a temper but he also knew she wasn't a very strong person. Suddenly Logan heard something, he stood up and walked to the door, his heart sank for he knew the sounds were Roxy's screams, he closed his eyes and rested his head on the door.

"No," he said sadly,

"Not Roxy."

Terrlow had watched everything, he didn't look too happy as Cory smiled joyously, it was as if it was only an experiment and Roxy was her guinea pig. The punishment went on until Roxy passed out and then he turned the machine off. Cory turned to face him,

“Who told you to turn that off?” She demanded,

“There is no point leaving this on when she has passed out,” Terrlow protested,

“True,” Cory conceded,

"She lasted longer than I thought, a lot longer than any of the other subjects."

She added as she turned to the door,

"Return her to her cell, I've got another project to prepare," the Space Captain said as she walked out.

The door to the cell creaked open and the limp form of Roxy Davis was thrown in, she was still out cold. As the door slammed shut, Logan quickly lifted Roxy off the cold floor and rested her on the bunk, she had electrical burns on her face and hands, she had dark rings around her eyes and she was coated in a thick layer of sweat, Logan immediately knew what she had been through.

"Detector-scanner," he sighed.

He felt for a pulse, it was weak but he found one on the side of her neck. Logan was surprised that she was still alive, detectors-scanners had the unfortunate habit of killing people. Logan looked at her up and down, even in the state she was in, Roxy still managed to look good, it was something that Logan hadn't really noticed before. Roxy's head rolled to the left, she let out a quiet groan, she was coming round, when her eyes opened they were blood shot, she looked straight into Logan's eyes, she had never seen him look so concerned before.

"How are you feeling?" Logan asked softly,

"Not too good," Roxy croaked,

"What did she ask you?"

"Nothing, they asked nothing, only watched," Roxy replied in a dry, broken voice, it hurt to talk.

Roxy closed her eyes, she also found it difficult to breathe. Kerr Logan felt for her, it wasn't right for her to be treated this way, Roxy had done nothing wrong, she was innocent in all this, she was the only crew member of the Freedom not to have done anything against the Federation. Roxy fell asleep, she was exhausted, Logan simply watched her, doing what he could to keep her safe.

Cory Williams walked though a passage way into another dank and cold room which was an old laboratory, following her was Terrlow and two Federation guards, she looked around the masses of equipment before finding what she was looking for,

“This could be useful,” She said as she wiped the dust off of an old prototype of a cryo-cell,

“You have some strange items in your home Val, a detector scanner, these cryo-cells, what have you been doing?” She asked,

“They were here when I bought the place,” Terrlow said defensively,

“This castle was owned by a warlord who decided that Septer Prime wasn’t a good place to live, I bought it from the locals and gave them a more stable government in return,” he added,

“Don’t worry Terrlow, these will be useful.” She said with glee,

Terrlow took a deep breath as he worked up the courage to ask Cory a worrying question,

“What of my wife Rita? When will she be freed?”

Cory turned and looked him right in the eye,

“When we have Blake, not before.”

Kerr Logan had no idea how much time had passed, it felt like hours, Roxy Davis had slept most of the time, occasionally waking to have some food that was brought to them, it wasn't much but they both needed to keep their strength up. It had been quiet, too quiet. Logan looked around the cell, he saw a spider climbing up a wall heading towards the small barred window, he wished that he had the spider's freedom so he could escape. He suddenly thought about the Freedom and Blake, if Terrlow had imprisoned Roxy and himself, what about Blake and the Freedom but Terrlow had let them go,

"Or did he?" Logan asked himself.

"I know how much Nixon wants to get his ship back," he said as he stood up and walked to the window,

"Unless the cargo that Terrlow had asked Blake to ship had something to do with it."

He thought more about it, Nixon wanted his ship back but its crew killed, how could he succeed in that? The only way to take the ship is by boarding it but that won't happen while Blake was onboard, suddenly it dawned on him,

"The only way to remove the crew and keep the Freedom un-damaged is to use a small dose of solium radiation,"

Logan then looked towards the door,

"The shipment, it's in the shipment."

He took a deep breath, channelling his thoughts he opened his mind and reached out,

"Karla."

Terrlow rested back in his chair, it was quiet in his study as he spoke to Captain Cory Williams,

"Everything has worked to plan?" Cory said with a satisfied smile, she rubbed her hands together, she hadn’t adjusted to the colder climate on Septer Prime,

"As I said it would," Terrlow stated reluctantly,

"Blake is now carrying a lovely little solium device that has just enough radiation in it to kill him and his crew, he is currently on route to your pick up point, so you will have your ship back soon," he added.

"So far so good, and an added bonus of being able to give Kerr Logan to Nixon," Cory said calmly,

"That is right,"

"Get that cryo-cell ready it is time for another test." Cory said as she put her hands on her hips,

“Test?” Terrlow asked,

“Yes, I want to see how they work,”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Terrlow said as he climbed out of his chair,

“Good.” Cory Williams said sharply.

Roxy Davis woke, she still felt terrible. Logan watched her as she tried to sit up.

"How are you feeling now?" He asked.

The question sounded genuine as if he actually cared.

"Run down, I feel as if I've been hit by a transport," Roxy groaned,

"Why is this all happening?" She asked.

Logan sat down beside her,

"I think that Terrlow has sold us to the Federation, I also think that Blake and the others will be dead soon, the package that Blake is carrying probably contains solium radiation," Logan replied.

After hearing what solium radiation could do to a planet, Roxy knew that if Logan was right she would never see Blake or the others again.

"All I ever wanted in life was to settle down and have children but I doubt that will ever happen now. That is the story of my life though, I turned twenty three years old yesterday, since I was sixteen I've had nine partners in my life, all but two of them cheated on me, I thought that I was getting on top of my life after living on Gauda Prime for two years but now look at me, I've been arrested for no particular crime, thrown in with a group of murdering rebels and now I'm alone in a dank prison cell with a heartless man as company and a very big likelihood of being killed sometime very soon," Roxy said sadly as she held onto her throbbing head,

"I do not take too kindly to being called heartless," Logan snapped,

"Well, you are, since I've known you I have never seen you show any emotion, you treat everything with the same level of coldness, whether it be talking to someone or murdering someone, to you it is all the same," Roxy countered,

"I have to be this way, I cannot let my feelings get the better of me, I am a warrior, a fighter, emotions would just get in the way," Logan bit back,

"No you haven't got to be that way, I bet that in your whole life you have not once let anyone in,"

"Do not pretend to know me Roxy, I have had feelings for other people before. When I was seventeen years old I had a relationship with a psychology tutor, and after that, I was involved with a young cadet, someone who my sister introduced me to, the relationships lasted over five years between them," Logan retorted bitterly,

"Why did your relationships end?" Roxy asked, feeling a little guilty for what she had said,

"It is illegal for a tutor to date one of their students, so we had to keep our relationship secret. Janice was a lovely woman, when we first met we knew right away what we felt for each other, both of us were good in reading each other, during one late night education study period, I was studying on some coarse work when she made her move, throughout that night she continued to make advances, I welcomed them, and one thing lead to another and soon we were at it on the class room floor, she was a very adventurous woman, together we tried anything that a man and woman could do together, she taught me everything that I know about sex and how to please a woman. After two years another tutor who had a crush on her found out and told the authorities, Janice was given an ultimatum, leave the education authority or take up another post, the post that was offered was on Gauda Two. We talked about it for a couple of nights, I did not want her to give up her job, she enjoyed her work, education was her life but she did not want to leave me but we decided that it was better for her to take up the new appointment. It took me mouths to get over the fact that she had left. So I just got on with my life, working hard in the F.S.A, and becoming one of the first ever cadets to gain a commission whilst still in training," Logan explained sombrely with Roxy listening intently, suddenly seeing another side to this man that she had thought was nothing more than cold hearted and absolutely ruthless,

"As I said before, the next woman in my life, Carrera was introduced to me by my little sister Katrina. Apparently Carrera would always talk about me to my sister after she came around to the family home, it got to the point where Katty got fed up with it so told me about it, Carrera and I always got on, there was this chemistry between us, falling for each other was fairly easy but that relationship ended when I defected from the Federation, I didn't even get to say goodbye," Logan continued as he stared into the far wall, his face shrouded by the look of regret,

"I can imagine that she would hate me for doing that, especially when we were so close to organising marriage," Logan said as he turned to Roxy who wore a saddened expression,

"I'm sorry," Roxy said weakly,

"Relationships have always been fun, but they have also ruined me, I now stay away from them, so if that means that I am cold and indifferent, if I'm seen as ruthless then so be it, but I am not cold hearted, it is just hard to open up to anybody anymore," Logan said, his words drifting into silence,

"You've only had two women?" Roxy asked,

"Yes, I'm not the easiest man to get along with, I have been told that I scare a lot of women off,"

"I can understand that," Roxy agreed,

"But I would sooner of had two long term relationships like you have done instead of the nine short term relationships that I've had, I guess that I was just too easy, I was always a glutton for love, anyone who made a fuss of me I would swoon over, even after being dumped by one man I would fall for someone who was exactly the same and then suffer again. That is why after man number six I gave up on men, I had lost all confidence in them, so one night I went out on my own to the eighth and second district which was on the other side of the city from where I lived, whilst there having a quiet drink a woman came up beside me and we started talking, we hit it off immediately, laughing and joking and generally having a good time, afterwards she took me to her home, she only lived just across the road from the nightbar we were in and said that I could stay the night, we continued to have a good laugh together, we had a few more drinks and shortly afterwards she made a pass at me, before I could respond she gave me a big kiss and before long one thing lead to another and the following morning I woke up in her bed." Roxy continued somberly,

“You’ve slept with another woman?” Logan was shocked,

“Yes, Lita was a fairly attractive and experienced woman who made the whole thing feel so natural, we saw each other for about six months afterwards until the day that she died of a shadow overdose, it broke my heart. She was the only woman I had ever been with, it took me three months to get over her loss. After that I went back to men, at times I wish I never did. I certainly knew that three of Lita’s friends wanted to have me but I wanted Lita to be special, a one off.” Roxy explained,

"You said that all but two of them betrayed you," Logan said curiously,

"Lita was one and Maxwell was the other, he was a childhood sweetheart or so my parents would say, he was the first man that I had slept with. Maxwell joined the Federation, after being together for six months he was given a commission on one of the outer worlds, he had no choice in the matter, he tried to have me come with him but the Federation wouldn't allow it because I was a beta grade, it hurt like hell when he left, it hurt even more when I heard that his transport ship had been hit by an asteroid destroying it completely," Roxy explained, a sad shadow crossed her face,

"It seems that both of us have had our difficulties," Logan said sombrely,

"Yeah, it seems that way and now we are here together, and very likely to die together," Roxy replied with a resigned tone,

"Never give up on hope," Logan said firmly,

"Why not? It has given up on me," Roxy replied grimly,

"You'll get out of this okay," Logan said with a firm reassurance as he sat back against the wall and closed his eyes,

Roxy managed a thin smile, he sounded so confident that it gave her hope.

"I just wish that I was back on Earth, working in Warehouse Eighteen," Roxy sighed sadly,

"Warehouse Eighteen, That was a weapons manufactory wasn't it?" Logan asked curiously, his eyes opened and he turned to Roxy, he had been at that particular factory himself when he served with the Federation,

"That's right. Not the most exciting of places to work in but it paid well and the

people I worked with were friendly," Roxy said with a slight smile,

"Although, saying that there was once some excitement one day, we were doing our normal duties when a Federation shock team stormed in, they checked everyone's identification and killed those who they considered to be spies, it was quite shocking, seeing people get killed in front of you, it wasn't something that I was used to,"

"If I recall rightly, that warehouse was raided because there had been a number of faulty batches of hand guns that originated from there. Supreme Command deemed that there must be rebels working in the warehouse deliberately sabotaging the weapons before they were shipped," Logan said, he remembered the day well,

"That was the reason we were told," Roxy said before shaking her head,

"What is it?" Logan asked,

"I was close to being killed that day, you see when the troopers stormed in, I dived for cover and stayed there, the next thing I knew was that this Federation trooper was standing behind me with their gun aimed at me. She didn't check my identity card, she accused me of being a spy but before she could shoot me another officer, one that seemed to be in charge of everything stopped her, he yelled at her for not seeing my identity card that I wore on my hip before he helped me to my feet. Once everything was clear and the bodies of the dead had been removed, he took off his helmet and came over to me, apologised for his privates actions and ordered his team to leave," Roxy replied, remembering that she had often fantasised about that officer for a few weeks after that day, she had constantly wound her friends up about it,

"That skinny little brunette girl was you?" Logan asked, sounding very surprised,

"Don't tell me that you were that officer?" Roxy asked, equally as shocked,

"I lead that operation," Logan told Roxy,

"You?" Roxy still sounding surprised and felt a little embarrassed,

"Yeah, it was one of the first operations that I commanded," Logan said as he rose to his feet and walked to the small window,

"I still can't believe that that woman was you," he said as he turned to Roxy, she was nothing like the girl he had rescued that day,

"I filled out shortly afterwards," the blonde said as she gestured to her breasts which was one thing she didn't have on the day of the raid,

"I was a late developer," she told Logan with a smile as he walked back to the bunk and sat down, 

Deep down, knowing now that they had met before and on that day he had rescued her from death, Roxy realised that Kerr Logan wasn't too bad after all, now that she knew a bit about his past, seeing that he was only human she actually found him very compelling. 

Just then the door opened and the same two troopers marched in,

"Get her,"

"No," Logan yelled as he attacked them.

One trooper fell to a deadly strike in the nose that forced the back of the nose into the brain which killed him instantly, the troopers body fell to the floor with a thud as Logan went for the other, a third and fourth appeared and knocked him to the ground. Cory stepped over Logan and looked down at him,

"We will use him instead, she can come too, she can watch."

Two troopers grabbed Logan and the other took Roxy. With Cory taking the lead they headed to the laboratory Cory had found, they left the body of the fourth trooper in the cell.

The laboratory was a large room which was on the north side of the castle. On all walls there were cabinets that contained everything from chemicals to scientific equipment, some of it would have been well placed in a museum, at the centre of the room there was a metal operating table and attached to one wall was a bank of instrument panels and control boards. Logan identified some of them as life support systems and temperature controls, others he could not. Just in front of this control system was a raised circular platform with feet restraints bolted to it.

"Put him on," Cory ordered as he took his place by the control boards.

Logan didn't resist as he was lead to the platform, he turned to Roxy and pushed his feet under the restraints, a trooper tightened them as Logan and Roxy looked into each other's eyes.

"What are you going to do to him?" Roxy asked, she never turned her eyes from Logan's.

"This is a cryo-cell, an old way of storing prisoners. This was before we sent people to penal colonies,” Cory announced before turning to Terrlow,

“Get this thing started,” she ordered,

Terrlow reluctantly stood at the controls and set a few dials.

Roxy had hated Logan ever since meeting him or so she thought, she now found herself crying for him, perhaps it was the despair in his eyes, she knew why he treated people horridly, to keep himself from getting too involved with them, he wanted to die, he felt guilty for killing all those people on Betafarl, but she knew that he didn't want to die like this, not in some laboratory experiment, he wanted to die in battle, to have the heroic ending. Logan took a deep breath as a black cylinder began to lower over him, he continued to hold Roxy's eyes with his,

"I'll be all right," he whispered to her as if to calm her.

The cylinder had an armour glass viewer built into its side, as the cylinder locked onto the platform the seals locked into place. The cylinder had a couple of ducting hoses coming out from the top that lead to the control station. Logan looked around the confined space of the cylinder, he felt enclosed, he hated that feeling, he soon began to shiver. Logan looked out of the glass and at Roxy, she was still crying, he gave her a reassuring smile, one last brave gesture. Logan was afraid but his thoughts were of Roxy, after this she was on her own. Terrlow operated a valve and the cylinder began to fill with a white gas.

"No," Roxy cried out.

Logan saw her despairing face for the last time as the gas enveloped him, suddenly the gas became solid, Logan felt an uncomfortable crushing sensation followed by extreme cold, all of a sudden everything went dark and it was the last thing Logan remembered before he passed out. A crackling sound came from the cylinder as the gas hardened. Roxy stepped forward, tears still streaming from her eyes, a trooper followed close behind. The cylinder was covered with a layer of frost that was already beginning to melt.

"Freezing process is finished," Terrlow said as he continued to study his controls.

Roxy was shaking as she stood in front of the cryo-cell, the frost on the glass had melted away, and she could see Logan inside, his hands were tight and the look on his face would remain with her forever, he looked as if he was in agonised pain, his face was contorted, the sinews in his neck were flexed, his eyes were shut tight and his teeth were gritted together.

"No." Roxy said shakily.

She turned to Cory and then Terrlow who was now altering a dial here, flicking a switch there, he scratched the top of his head, he looked concerned, Cory and Roxy waited for his report, Roxy was so worried she was holding her breath without knowing it.

"He's dead," Terrlow announced dryly,

"Life signs have stopped," he added as he turned to Roxy with a grave expression.

“Shame,” Cory cursed before walking out of the room, followed closely by her troopers. Terrlow stepped beside Roxy as she stood facing the cryo-cell,

“I’m sorry, I have no choice,” he confessed,

Roxy said nothing, she was so upset, it wasn’t long before her legs gave way as she burst into tears.


End file.
